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' YALE °WJM_V]E_2__ TY

Gift of the
Rev. Heber H. Beadle

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THE

WORKS

OF

JOHN OWEN, D. D.,

EDITED
BY THE REV. WILLIAM H. GOOLD,
EDINBURGH.

VOL. II,

ON COMMUNION WITH GOD.

'OS1CI BE WITH ALL THEM WHO LOVE THE LOED JESUi
CHRIST I N SINCERITY." — Ep.H. vi. 24.

OFFICE FOB THE SALE OF
THE LEIGHTON PUBLICATIONS.
AT THE DEPOSITORY OF
THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL BOOK SOCIETY.
in
PHILADELPHIA.
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_DCCC.L_X

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" Honoramus eos charitate, non servitute : nee eis templa consrruimus.
Nolunt enim se sic a nobis honorari : quia nosipsos cum boni sumus, templa
summi Dei esse noverunt." AUOHSTINDS, DE VER. Rf.LIO. CaF. LIT.

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¦ ' Chbysostomi Homil. xm. 2 Coe.

li} &EQ. IlPO^KTNHSON. AnOKAATYIS, ie'. L

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PREFACE
TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.

It was remarked by one who did not receive the the
ological views of Owen, that he was a man " who had
sounded the depths of practical, religion." Another, who
accepted the theology of the great non-conformist, called
him " the mountain" from which the writers of subsequent
ages have digged. These two remarks combined express
the views of the present writer. There are perhaps no
theological writings in the English language so rich, full
and comprehensive as those of Owen, while yet the prin
ciples of religion are never stated as mere theoretic
truths, but are so conceived and expressed as to carry in
them, and put forth upon the mind that reads them the
greatest possible practical force.
To the student who takes up the 'works of this
great Author, they are likely at first to prove unattract
ive. The style is prolix and without the least attempt
at ornament. The ideas are not distinct, sharply defined,
each occupying a narrow compass of expression and hence
falling in rapid succession like coins from the mint, but
spread themselves over a wide surface of remark, with
innumerable elements springing from the wonderfully
prolific mind of the writer, augmenting as they flow and
perhaps not reaching a complete development until the
whole subject is exhausted and the treatise closed.

11 PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
Yet it is this very quality that gives to the writings of
Owen their peculiar value to the diligent student. Let
such a student have the patience to spend hours of close
study in any one of his theological treatises and he will
find his mind filled, enlightened, expanded ; his field of
vision enlarged to a degree that will attend the produc
tions of no other writer with whom we are acquainted.
It is almost impossible that any intelligent student of
Owen should write sermons either meagre in thought or of
a thin theological consistence. We could not suggest a
better corrective of the vicious tendencies of modern
religious discourse than the study of this master of scrip
tural theology.
It is hence highly gratifying to know that an American
publisher has undertaken to issue these volumes. There is
a fact connected with this publication which is of touching
interest in itself, and in its relation to many friends of a
sainted herald of the cross. It is that the publisher has
been led to this and other efforts to promote the circula
tion and study of Owen's Works by his intercourse with
the late Rev. James Henry Fowles, Rector of the Church
of the Epiphany, Philadelphia, and now offers them to the
church as a tribute to the memory of this man of God
whose own mind had drunk deeply at the spring to which
readers are now invited.-

J. HOWAED SMITH,

washington heights,
New Yobk.
Septembeb, 1860.

This edition of the Wobks of Owen will consist of eight
of the British edition of sixteen volumes, edited by the Eev. Dr.
W. H. Goold, and published in 1850.
The numbers of the first seven volumes will agree, and tbe
eighth of this, will be the same as the eleventh volume of that
edition. Either volume may be procured separately.
CONTENTS.
Vol. I. Life of Dr. Owen, by Rev. Dr. Andrew Thomson.
1. On the Person of Christ.
2. Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ.
3. Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ applied to Sinners and
Saints.
4. Two Short Catechisms.
" H. 1. On Communion with God.
2. Vindication of the Preceding Discourse.
3. Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity.
" III. Discourse on the the Holy Spirit : His Name, Nature, Personality, Dispen
sation, Operations, and Effects — His Work in the Old and New Creation
explained, and the Doctrines Vindicated. The Nature and Necessity of
Gospel Holiness : the difference between Grace and Morality, or a
Spiritual Life unto God in Evangelical Obedience, and a course of Moral
Virtues, stated and declared.
" IV. 1. The Reason of Faith.
2. Causes, Ways, and Means, of understanding the Mind of God, as re
vealed in His Word, with assurance therein. And a declaration of
the perspicuity of the Scriptures, with the external means of the inter
pretation of them.
3. On the Work of the Holy Spirit, in Prayer : with a brief inquiry into
the nature and use of Mental Prayer and Forms.
4. Of the Holy Spirit and His Work, as a Comforter and as the Author of
Spiritual Gifts.
" V. 1. The doctrine of Justification by Faith.
2. Evidences of the Faith of God's Elect.
" VI. 1. On the Mortification of Sin.
2. On Temptation.
3. On Indwelling Sin in Believers.
4. Exposition of Psalm CXXX.
" VII. 1. On the Nature and Causes of Apostasy, and the Punishment of Apos
tates.
2. On Spiritual Mindedness.
3. On the dominion of Sin and Grace.
" VIII. The Doctrine of the Saint's Perseverance explained and confirmed.
" IX. Miscellaneous Works.
The Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews is intended to be published in the
same style.

"TAKE HEED UNTO THYSELF, AND UNTO THE
DOCTEINE; CONTINUE IN THEM: FOB IN DOING
THIS THOU SHALT BOTH SAVE THYSELF, AND

THEM THAT HEAB THEE

>>

1 Timothy, iv. 16.

CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHEK, SON,
AND HOLY GHOST.
Pa^3
Prefatory Note by the Editor ....... 2
Preface . . . . ....... 3
Note to the Reader by D. Burgess ....... 4

PART I.
Chap. I. — That the saints have communion with God — 1 John i. 3 considered to that
purpose — Somewhat of the nature of communion in general . . .5
Chap. II. — That the saints have this commumon distinctly with the Father, Son,
and Spirit — 1 John v. 7 opened to this purpose ; also, 1 Cor. xii. 4-6, Eph. ii. 18
— Father and Son mentioned jointly in this communion; the Father solely, the
Son also, and the Holy Ghost singly — The saints' respective regard in all worship
to each person manifested — Faith in the Father, 1 John v. 9, 10 ; and love towards
him, 1 John ii. 15, Mai., i. 6 — So in prayer and praise — It is so likewise with the
Son, John xiv. 1 — Of our communion with the Holy Ghost — The truth farther
confirmed .......... 9
Chap. III. — Of the peculiar and distinct communion which the saints have with the
Father — Observations for the clearing of the whole premised— Our peculiar com
munion with the Father is in love — 1 John iv. 7, 8 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 14 ; John xvi.
25, 27; Rom. v. 5; John iii. 16, xiv. 23 ; Tit. iii. 4, opened to this purpose — What
is required of believers to hold communion with the Father in love — His love
received by faith — Returns of love to him — God's love to us and ours to him —
Wherein they agree — Wherein they differ . . . . . .17
Chap. IV. — Inferences on the former doctrine concerning communion with the Father
in love ........... 31

PART II.
Chap. I.— Of the fellowship which the saints have with Jesus Christ the Son of God
— That they have such a fellowship proved, 1 Cor. i. 9 ; Rev. iii. 20 : Cant. ii.
1-7 opened; also Prov. ix. 1-5 . . '. . . • 40
VOL. IL A

IV CONTENTS. Pag.
Chap. IL— What it is wherein we have peculiar fellowship with the Lord Christ —
This is in grace— This proved, John i. 14, 16, 17; 2 Cor. xiii. 14; 2 Thess. iii.
1 7, 18— Grace of various acceptations— Personal grace in Christ proposed to con
sideration — The grace of Christ as mediator intended, Ps. xiv. 2 — Cant. v. 10,
Christ, how white and ruddy— His fitness to save, from the grace of union— His
fulness to save— His suitableness to endear— These considerations improved . 48
Chap. III.— Of the way and manner whereby the saints hold communion with the
Lord Christ as to personal grace —The conjugal relation between Christ and the
saints, Cant. ii. 16; Isa. liv. 5, etc.; Cant. iii. 11, opened— The way of communion
in conjugal relation, Hos. iii. 3; Cant. i. 15— On the part of-Christ— On the part
of the saints . . . . . • • • .54
Digression I.
Some excellencies of Christ proposed to consideration, to endear our hearts unto
him— His description, Cant, v., opened . . . . . .59
Digression II.
All solid wisdom laid up in Christ — True wisdom, wherein it consists — Knowledge
of God, in Christ only to be obtained— What of God may be known by his
works — Some properties of God not discovered but in Christ only ; love, mercy
— Others not fully but in him ; as vindictive justice, patience, wisdom, all-
sufficiency— No property of God savingly known but in Christ — What is re
quired to a saving knowledge of the properties of God — No true knowledge
of ourselves but in Christ — Knowledge of ourselves, wherein it consisteth —
Knowledge of sin, how to be had in Christ; also of righteousness and of judg
ment — The wisdom of walking with God hid in Christ — What is required
thereunto— Other pretenders to the title of wisdom examined and rejected —
Christ alone exalted ........ 79
Chap. IV. — Of communion with Christ in a conjugal relation in respect of conse
quential affections — His delight in his saints first insisted on, Isa. lxii. 5 ; Cant.
iii 11 ; Prov. viii. 31 — Instance of Christ's delight in believers — He reveals his
whole heart to them, John xv. 14, 15; himself, John xiv. 21; his kingdom;
enables them to communicate their mind to him, giving them assistance, a way,
boldness, Rom. viii. 26, 27 — The saints delight in Christ ; this manifested Cant.
ii. 7, viii. 6 — Cant. iii. 1-5, opened — Their delight in his servants and ordinances
of worship for his sake . . . . . . . .117
Cjap. V. — Other consequential affections: — 1. On the part of Christ — He values his
saints — -Evidences of that valuation; — (1.) His incarnation; (2.) Exinanition,
2 Cor. viii. 9; Phil. ii. 6, 7; (3.) Obedience as a servant; (4.) In his death. His
¦ valuation of them in comparison of others. 2. Believers' estimation of Christ : —
(1.) They valud him above all other things and persons; (2.) Above their own
lives ; (3.) All spiritual excellencies. The sum of all on the part of Christ — The
sum on the part of believers. The third conjugal affection — On the part of
Christ, pity or compassion — Wherein manifested — Suffering and supply, fruits
of compassion — Several ways whereby Christ relieves the saints under tempta
tions — His compassion in their afflictions. Chastity, the third conjugal affection
in the saints. The fourth — On the part of Christ, bounty; on the part of the
saints, duty . . ......... 133
Chap. VI. — Of communion with Christ in purchased grace-^Purchased grace con
sidered in respect of its rise and fountain — The first rise of it, in the obedience
of Christ — Obedience properly ascribed to Christ — Two ways considered : what

CONTENTS.

it was, and wherein it did consist— Of his obedience to the law in general— Of
the law of the Mediator — His habitaial righteousness, how necessary; as also his
obedience to the law of the Mediator — Of his actual obedience or active right
eousness — All Christ's obedience performed as he was Mediator— His active
obedience for us — This proved at large, Gal. iv. 4, 5 ; Rom. v. 18, 19 ; Phil. iii. 9 ;
Zech. iii. 3-5 — One objection removed — Considerations of Christ's active right
eousness closed — Of the death of Christ, and its influence into our acceptation
with God— A price ; redemption, what it is — A sacrifice ; atonement made there
by— A punishment ; satisfaction thereby — The intercession of Christ; with its
influence into our acceptation with God . . . . . .154
Chap. VII. — The nature of purchased grace; referred to three heads: — 1. Of our ac
ceptation with God; two parts of it. 2. Of the grace of sanctification; the
several parts of it . . . . . . . . . 169
Chap. VIII.— How the saints hold communion with Christ as to their acceptation with
God — What is required on the part of Christ hereunto; in his intention; in the
declaration thereof— The sum of our acceptation with God, wherein it consists —
What is required on the part of believers to this communion, and how they
hold it, with Christ — Some objections proposed to consideration, why the elect
are not accepted immediately on the undertaking and the death of Christ — In
what sense they are so — Christ a common or public person — How he came to be
so — The way of our acceptation with God on that account — The second objection
— The necessity of our obedience stated, Eph. ii. 8-10 — The grounds, causes, and
ends of it manifested — Its proper place in the new covenant — How the saints, in
particular, hold communion with Christ in this purchased grace — They approve
of this righteousness ; the grounds thereof — Reject their own ; the grounds there
of—The commutation of sin and righteousness between Christ and believers;
some objections answered ........ 173
Chap. IX. — Of communion with Christ in holiness — The several acts ascribed unto
the Lord Christ herein: 1. His intercession; 2. Sending of the Spirit; 3. Bestows
habitual grace — What that is, and wherein it consists — This purchased by
Christ; bestowed by him — Of actual grace — How the saints hold communion
with Christ in these things; manifested in sundry particulars . . .191'
Chap. X. — Of communion with Christ in privileges — Of adoption ; the nature of it,
the consequences of it — Peculiar privileges attending it ; liberty, title, boldness,
affliction— Communion with Christ hereby ..... 207

PAET IIL
Chap. I. — The foundation of our communion with the Holy Ghost (John xvi. 1-7)
opened at large— U«.Su.nkfir<is, a Comforter; who he is — The Holy Ghost; his own
will in his coming to us ; sent also by Christ — The Spirit sent as a sanctifier and
as a comforter — The adjuncts of his mission considered— The foundation of his
mission, John xv. 26— His procession from the Father twofold ; as to personality,
as to office — Things considerable in his procession as to office — The manner of
his collation — He is given freely; sent authoritatively — The sin agamst the Holy
Ghost, whence unpardonable — How we ask the Spirit of the Father— To grieve
the Spirit, what— Poured out— How the Holy Ghost is received; by faith-
Faith's actings in receiving the Holy Ghost^His abode with us, how declared-
How we may lose our comfort whilst the Comforter abides with us . . 222
Chap. II.— Of the actings of the Holy Ghost in us, being bestowed on us— He worketh
effectually, distributeth, giveth ...... 234

VI

CONTENTS.

Chap. III.— Of the things wherein we have communion with the Holy Ghost— He
brings to remembrance the things spoken by Christ, John xiv. 26— The manner
how he doth it— The Spirit glorifies Christ in the hearts of believers, John xvi.
14, sheds abroad the love of God in them— The witness of the Spirit, what it is,
Rom. viii. 16— The sealing of the Spirit, Eph. i. 13— The Spirit, how an earnest;
on the part of God, on the part of the saints— Difference between the earnest of
the Spirit and tasting of the powers of the world to come— Unction by the Spirit,
Isa. xi. 2, 3— The various teachings of the Holy Ghost— How the Spirit of adop
tion and of supplication ........ 236
Chap. IV.— The general consequences in the hearts of believers of the effects of the
Holy Ghost before mentioned — Consolation; its adjuncts, peace, joy — How it is
wrought immediately, mediately .....•• 249
Chap. V. — Some observations and inferences from discourses foregoing concerning
the Spirit — The contempt of the whole administration of the Spirit by some — ¦
The vain pretence of the Spirit by others — The false spirit discovered . . 254
Chap. VI. — Of particular communion with the Holy Ghost — Of preparation thereunto
— Valuation of the benefits we receive by him — What it is he comforts us in and
against ; wherewith ; how . ... . . . . .259
Chap. VII. — The general ways of the saints' acting in communion with the Holy
Ghost  ' . .264

Chap. VIII. — Particular directions for communion with the Holy Ghost

268

A VINDICATION OF SOME PASSAGES IN A DISCOUESE
CONCERNING COMMUNION WITH GOD.

Prefatory Note by the Editor
A Vindication of some Passages, &c.

276
277

A BRIKF DECLARATION AND VINDICATION OF THE DOCTEINE
OF THE TEINITY.

Prefatoby Note by the Editor .....

. 366

To the Reader ........

. 367

Preface •••••....

. 371

The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity explained and vindicated .

. 377

Of the Person of Christ 

. 413

Of the Satisfaction of Christ ......

. 419

Appendix .......,,

. 441

as
COMMUNION
WITH
GOD THE FATHER, SON, AND HOLY GHOST,
EACH PERSON DISTIKCTXY,
IN LOVE, GEACE, AND CONSOLATION;
¦% OB,
THE SAINTS' FELLOWSHIP WITH THE FATHEE, SON, AND
HOLT GHOST UNFOLDED.

° God la love,"— 1 Joh» Iv. 8. ,
'^Tell me, 0 thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedeat."— Caht. 1. 7.
" Make haste, my beloved."— 0 ant. viii. 14.
" "Grieve not the Holy 8pirit of God, wheretyye are sealed uutp the day of redemption."— E pk. iv. 30.
" Now there are diversities of gifts, but the fame Spirit. And" there are differences of administrations, but
the same Lord. And there ara diversities of operatiouu, but itis the same <iod,"— 1 Coh. xii. 4-6.

VOL. II.

PREFATORY NOTE.

The reader may be referred to the Life of Dr Owen (vol. i. p. lxxii.) for a general
criticism on the merits of the following treatise. It was published in 1657, shortly
after he had ceased to be Vice- Chancellor in the University of Oxford. From
the brief preface affixed to it, it appears that, for a period of more than six years,
he had been under some engagement to publish the substance of the work. It
has been inferred, accordingly, that it is the substance of some discourses which
he had preached in Oxford; but, as he became Vice-Chancellor only in Septem
ber 1652, there is more probability in the supposition that they are the discourses
which refreshed and cheered his attached congregation at Coggeshall.
There are two peculiarities which deserve attention in the treatise. The over
sight of one of them has created some misconception of the author's design, and
led some to fancy that he was wandering from it, in various passages which are
in strict harmony with his main and original purpose in the work. The term
" Communion," as used by Owen, is used in a wider sense than is consistent with
that which is now generally attached to it in religious phraseology. It denotes not
merely the interchange of feeling between God in his gracious character and a
soul in a gracious state, but the gracious relationship upon which this holy inter
change is based. On the part of Christ, for example, all his work and its results
are described, from the atonement till it takes effect in the actual justification of
the sinner.
The grand peculiarity distinguishing the treatise is the fulness of illustration
with which he dilates on the communion enjoyed by believers with each person,
of the Godhead respectively. Fully to comprehend his views on this point, it is
needful to bear in mind the meaning under which the word Communion is em
ployed by Owen. «
ANALYSIS.
Part I. — The fact of communion with God is asserted, chap. i. Passages in
Scripture are quoted to show that special mention is made of communion with
all the persons of the Trinity, ii. Communion with the Father is described, hi. ;
and practical inferences deduced from it, IV.
Part II. — The reality of communion with Christ is proved, chap, i.; and the
nature of it is subsequently considered, II. It is shown to consist in grace; and then
the grace of Christ is exhibited under three divisions : — his personal grace, m.-vi.;
and under this branch are two long digressions, designed to unfold the glory and
loveliness of Christ; — purchased grace, vn.-x.; in which the mediatorial work of
' Christ is fully considered, in reference to our acceptance with God, til, viii.; sanc
tification, ix.; and the privileges of the covenant, x.; — and grace as communicated by
the Spirit, and conspicuous in the fruits of personal holiness. This last division is
illustrated under sanctification, as contained under the head of purchased grace.
Part III — Communion with the Holy Ghost is expounded in the eight follow
ing chapters; — the foundation of it, chap, i.; his gracious and effectual influence
in believers, II.; the elements in which it consists, in.; the effects in the hearts of
believers, iv.; and general inferences and particular directions for communion
with the Spirit, v.-vm.
The arrangement of the treatise may seem involved and complicated, and the
endless divisions and subdivisions may distract rather than assist the attention of
the reader. The warm glow of sanctified emotion, however, and occasionally
thoughts of singular power and originality, which are found throughout the trea
tise, sustain the interest, and more than reward perusal. Few passages in any
theological writer are more thrilling than tlie reference to the spotless humanity
of Christ, in terms full of sanctified genius, on page 64.
An account of the strange controversy to which this treatise o-ave rise, many
years after its publication, will be found on page 276. — Ed.

PREFACE.

Christian Eeader,
It is now six years past since I was brought under an engagement of promise for
the publishing of some meditations on the subject which thou wilt find handled in
the ensuing treatise. The reasons of this delay, being not of public concernment,
I shall not need to mention. Those who have been in expectation of this duty
from me, have, for the most part, been so far acquainted with my condition and
employments, as to be able to satisfy themselves as to the deferring of their desires.
That which I have to add at present is only this : — having had many opportunities,
since the time I first delivered any thing in public on this subject (which was the
means of bringing me under the engagements mentioned), to re-assume the con
sideration of what I had first fixed on, I have been enabled to give it that improve
ment, and to make those additions to the main of the design and matter treated
on, that my first debt is come at length to be only the occasion of what is now
tendered to the saints of God. I shall speak nothing of the subject here handled ;
it may, I hope, speak for itself, in that spiritual savour and relish which it will yield
to them whose hearts are not so filled with other things as to render the sweet
things of the gospel bitter to them. The design of the whole treatise thou wilt
find, Christian reader, in the first chapters of the first part ; and I shall not detain
thee here with the perusal of any thing which in its proper place will offer itself
unto thee : know only, that the whole of it hath been recommended to the grace of
God in many supplications, for its usefulness unto them that are interested iri the
good things mentioned therein.

J. 0.

Oxon. Ch. Ch. Coll.,
July 10, 1667.

TO THE READER.

Alphonsus, king of Spain, is said to have found food and physic in reading Livy ;
and Ferdinand, king of Sicily, in reading Quintus Curtius: but thou hast here
nobler entertainments, vastly richer dainties, incomparably more sovereign medi
cines ; — I had almost said, the very highest of angel's food is here set before thee;
and, as Pliny speaks, " permista deliciis auxilia," — things that minister unto grace
and comfort, to holy life and liveliness.
Such is this treatise, — this, which is the only one extant upon its great and
necessary subject, — this, whose praise hath been long in- the churches, and hath
gone enamelled with the honourable reproaches of more than one English Bolsec,
— this, whose great author, like the sun, is well known to the world, by eminence
of heavenly light and labours, — this, which, as his many other works, can be no
other than manna unto sound Christians, though no better than stone and serpent
to Socinians and their fellow-commoners.
Importunity hath drawn me to say thus much more than I could think needful
to be said concerning any work of Dr Owen's; — needful in our day itself, a day
wherein " pauci sacras Scripturas, plures nomina rerum, plurimi nomina magis-
trorum sequuntur; " — " few do cleave to the holy Scriptures ; many do rest in
scholastic, senseless sounds; and most men do hang their faith upon their rabbi's
sleeves." This only I add : — of the swarms every day rising, there are few books but do
want their readers ; yet, if I understand aright, there are not many readers but
do want this book.
In which censure I think I am no tyrant, which the philosopher names the
worst of wild beasts; and I am sure I am no flatterer, which he calls, as justly,
the worst of tame beasts, — Kal raws ph S« ravrx.
Let the simple souls (the " paucissima? Iectionis mancipia") who take the doc
trine of distinct communion with the Divine'Persons to be a new-fangled one and
uncouth, observe the words of the Rev. Mr Samuel Clarke (the annotator on the
Bible), in his sermon on 1 John i. 7: " It is to be noted, that there is a distinct fel
lowship with each of the persons of the blessed Trinity." Let them attend what
is said by Mr Lewis Stuckley, in his preface to Mr Polwheil's book of Quenching
the Spirit: "It is a most glorious truth, though considered but by few, that be
lievers have, or may have, distinct communion with the three persons, Father, Son,
and Spirit. This is attested by the finger of God, and solemnly owned by the
first and best age of Christianity." To name no more, let them read needfully but
the second chapter of this treatise, and it is hoped that then they shall no longer
« contra antidotum insanire, "—no longer rage against God's holy medicinal truth,
as St Austin saith he did while he was a Manichee; testifying, in so many words,
[that] his error was his very god.
Reader, I am Thy servant in Christ Jesus,
Daniel Burgess.1
1 See vol ix. p. 2.

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD.

PART I.
CHAPTER I.

That the saints have communion with God — 1 John i. 3 considered to that
purpose — Somewhat of the nature of communion in general.
In the First Epistle of John, chap, i., verse 3, the apostle assures them
to whom he wrote that the fellowship of believers "is with the Father,
and with his Son Jesus Christ:"1 and this he doth with such an un
usual kind of expression as bears the force of an asseveration; whence
we have rendered it, " Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and
with his Son Jesus Christ/"
The outward appearance and condition of the saints in those days
being very mean and contemptible, — their leaders being accounted as
the filth of this world, and as the offscouring of all things,3 — the in
viting others unto fellowship with them, and a participation of the
precious things which they did enjoy, seems to be exposed to many
contrary reasonings and objections : " What benefit is there in com
munion with them? Is it any thing else but to be sharers in trwbles,
reproaches, scorns, and all manner of evils?" To prevent or remove
these and the like exceptions, the apostle gives them to whom he
wrote to know (and that with some earnestness of expression), that
notwithstanding all the disadvantages their fellowship lay under, unto
a carnal view, yet in truth it was, and would be found to be (in re
ference to some with whom they held it), very honourable, glorious,
and desirable. For " truly," saith he, " our fellowship is with the
Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."
This being so earnestly and directly asserted by the apostle, we
may boldly follow him with our affirmation, — namely, " That the
saints of God have communion with him." And a holy and spi
ritual communion it is, as shall be declared. How this is spoken
1 Kal « Koivuvia il n hfilTl_ct, etc.
»-*n» *i_-iK*4iy**ra «» xir/ua.—l Cor. iv. 8-13; Rom. viii. 35, 36; Heb. x. 32-34.
" Christianos ad leones. Et puto, nos Deus apostolos novissimos elegit veluti bes-
tiarios."— Tert. de Pud, Acts xvii. 18; Gal. vi. 12. " Semper casuris similes, nun-
quamque cadentes."

6 OF COMMUNION WITH GOD.
distinctly in reference to the Father and the Son, must afterward be
fully opened and carried on.
By nature, since the entrance of sin, no man hath any communion
with God. He is light,1 we darkness; and what communion hath
light with darkness? He is life, we are dead, — he is love, and we are
enmity; and what agreement can there be between us? Men in
such a condition have neither Christ," nor hope, nor God in the
world, Eph. ii. 12; " being alienated from the life of God through the
ignorance that is in them," chap. iv. 18. Now, two cannot walk
together, unless they be agreed, Amos iii. 3. Whilst there is this
distance between God and man, there is no walking together for
them in any fellowship or communion. Our first interest in God
was so lost by sin,3 as that there was left unto us (in ourselves) no
possibility of a recovery. As we had deprived ourselves of all power
for a returnal, so God had not revealed any way of access unto him
self; or that he could, under any consideration, be approached unto
by sinners in peace. Not any work that God had made, not any
attribute that he had revealed, could give the least Hght into such
a dispensation. The manifestation of grace and pardoning mercy, which is the only
door of entrance into any such communion, is not committed unto
any but unto him alone4 in whom it is, by whom that grace and
mercy was purchased, through whom it is dispensed, who reveals it
from the bosom of the Father. Hence this communion and fellow
ship with God is not in express terms mentioned in the Old Testa
ment. The thing itself is found there; but the clear hght of it, and
the boldness of faith in it, is discovered in the gospel, and by the
Spirit administered therein. By that Spirit we have this liberty,
2 Cor. iii. 17, 18. Abraham was the friend o| God, Isa. xii. 8;
David, a man after his own heart; Enoch walked with him, Gen.
v. 22 ; — all enjoying this communion and fellowship for the substance
of it. But the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest whilst
the first tabernacle was standing, Heb. ix. 8. Though they had com
munion with God, yet they had not irappneiav, — a boldness and confi
dence in that communion. This follows the entrance of our High Priest
into the most holy place, Heb. iv. 16, x. 19. The vail also was upon
them, that they had not sXevfapiav, freedom and liberty in their access
2 1 John i. 5; 2 Cor. vi. 14; Eph. v. 8; John v. 21; Matt. xxii. 32; Eph. ii. 1;
1 John iv. 8; Rom. viii. 7.
8 " Magna hominis miseria est cum illo non esse, sine quo non potest esse." 
August. 1 Eccles. vii. 29; Jer. xiii. 23; Acts iv. 12; Isa. xxxiii. 14.
' John i. 18; Heb. x. 19-21. " Unus verusque Mediator per sacrificium pacis
reconcilians nos Deo; unum cum illo manebat cui offerebat; unum in se fecit, pro
quibus offerebat; unus ipse fuit, qui offerebat, et quod offerebat."  [Slightly
changed from] August, de Trinit., iv. c. 14.

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD. 7
to God, 2 Cor. iii. 15, 16, etc. But now in Christ we have bold
ness and access with confidence to God, Eph. iii. 12. This boldness
and access with confidence the saints of old were not acquainted
with. By Jesus Christ alone, then, on all considerations as to being
and full manifestation, is this distance taken awajT. He hath con
secrated for us a new and living way (the old being quite shut up),
"through the vail, that is to say, his flesh," Heb. x. 20 ; and " through
him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father," Eph. ii. 18.
"Ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of
Christ, for he is our peace," etc., verses 13, 14 Of this foundation
of all our communion with God, more afterward, and at large. Upon
this new bottom and foundation, by this new and living way, are
sinners admitted unto communion with God, and have fellowship
with him. And truly, for sinners to have fellowship with God, the
infinitely holy God, is an astonishing dispensation.2 To speak a little
of it in general : — Communion relates to things and persons. A joint
participation in any thing whatever, good or evil,3 duty or enjoy
ment, nature or actions, gives this denomination to them so partaking
of it. A common interest in the same nature gives all men a fellow
ship or communion therein. Of the elect it is said, T<i vailia xtxoi-
vuvrixe eapxbs xal uiparog, Heb. ii. 14, " Those children partook of"
(or had fellowship in, with the rest of the world) "flesh and blood," —
the same common nature with the rest of mankind ; and, therefore,
Christ also came into the same fellowship : K al abrhc. irapavXrieiaif
ftm<t%t ruv avruv. There is also a communion as to state and con
dition, whether it be good or evil; and this, either in things internal
and spiritual, — such as is the communion of saints among themselves;
or in respect of outward things. So was it with Christ and the two
thieves, as to one condition, and to one of them in respect of anpther.
They were h t(ji aurf xpi/iari, — under the same sentence to the cross,
Luke xxiii. 40, " ejusdem doloris socii." They had communion as
to that evil condition whereunto they were adjudged ; and one of
them requested (which he also obtained) a participation in that blessed
condition whereupon our Saviour was immediately to enter. There
is" also a communion or fellowship in actions, whether good or evil.
In good, is that communion and fellowship in the gospel, or in the
performance and celebration of that worship of God which in the
gospel is instituted ; which the saints do enjoy; Phil. i. 5 ; which, as to
the general kind of it, David so rejoices in, Ps. xiii. 4. In evil, was
1 Tlappitriav xiii rhv ir^ofetyuytlv if xt-roiHffu.
1 1 John iii. 1. QiXm /th htm, «4Siv 2t7 iixxutivnv Yuuuu ii Stns n^ttiwiTm (filial.
— Arist. Eth., lib. viii. cap. 1.
* " Qnemadmodum enim nobis arrhabonem Spiritus reliquit, ita et a nobis
arrhabonem caruis accepit, et vexit in c'oelum, pignus totius summse illuc quan-
doque redigendae." — Tertul. De Resur., c. li.

& OF COMMUNION WITH GOD.
that wherein Simeon and Levi were brethren, Gen. xlix. 5. They
had communion in that cruel act of revenge and murder. Our com
munion with God is not comprised in any one of these kinds; of
some of them it is exclusive, It cannot be natural; it must be vo
luntary and by consent. It cannot be of state and conditions; but
in actions. It cannot be in the same actions upon a third party; but
in a return from one to another. The infinite disparity that is be
tween God and man, made the great philosopher conclude that there
could be no friendship between them.1 Some distance in the per
sons holding friendship he could allow, nor could exactly determine
the bounds and extent thereof; but that between God and man, in
his apprehension, left no place for it. Another says, indeed, that there
is "communitas homini cum Deo," — a certain fellowship between
God and man; but the general intercourse of providence is all he
apprehended. Some arose to higher expressions; but they under
stood nothing whereof they spake. This knowledge is hid in Christ;
as will afterward be made to appear. It is too wonderful for nature,
as sinful and corrupted. Terror and apprehensions of death at the
presence of God is all that it guides unto. But we have, as was said,
a new foundation, and a new discovery of this privilege.
Now, communion is the mutual communication of such good
things as wherein the persons holding that communion are delighted,
bottomed upon some union between them. So it was with Jonathan
and David; their souls clave to one another (1 Sam. xx. 17) in love."
There was the Union of love between them; and then they really
communicated all issues of love mutually.3 In spiritual things this is
more eminent: those who enjoy this communion have the most excel
lent union for the foundation of it ; and the issues of that union, which
they mutually communicate, are the most precious and eminent.
Of the union which is the foundation of all that communion we
have with God I have spoken largely elsewhere, and have nothing
farther to add thereunto.
Our communion, then, with God consisteth in his communication
of himself unto us, with our returnal unto him of that which he re
quireth and acc'epteth, flowing from that union* which in Jesus Christ
1 'AtcgiCbs /th avt iv roiovrots ovx SWiv o_io-/tag, tug vivas oi $l\ov -rcX\Zv ykg aQttigeu/ti-
vaiv, %rt /tivti, -xo\v Se ^u^nri'i-troi, oTov rov Qtou eiix in. — Aristot. Eth., lib. viii. c. 7;
Cicer. de Nat. Deor., lib. i. s lluni t& rSr Qixm xtivi.
3 Kai h &et_ot/tia, xoiva. ra ftXvv, igloff, iv xoiv&v'ta ya._ tj QiXi*. — Arist. Eth., viii.
' " Nostra quippe et ipsius conjunctio, nee miscet personas, nee unit substantias,
Bed affectus consociat, et confoederat voluntates." — Cyp. de Coen. Domini. [No
treatise of Cyprian bears such a title. There is a treatise, " De Coena Domini," as
cribed to Cyprian, but on grounds so questionable and insufficient that it is some
times not included among his supposititious works. A statement referring to the
union between Christ and his people, as illustrated by the sacramental clemente,
occurs in his letter to Ccecilius, " De Sacramento Dominici Calicis ;" but the words
of the above quotation are not contained in it.]

OF COMMUNION WITH EACH PEJRSON DISTINCTLY. 9
we have with him. And it is twofold: — 1. Perfect and complete,
in the full fruition of his glory and total giving up of ourselves to
him, resting in him as our utmost end ; which we shall enjoy when
we see him as he is; — and, 2. Initial and incomplete, in the first-
fruits and dawnings of that perfection which we haye here in grace;
which only I shall handle.
It is, then, I say, of that mutual communication1 in giving and
receiving, after a most holy and spiritual manner, which is between
God and the saints while they walk together in a covenant of peace,
ratified in the blood of Jesus, whereof we are to treat. And this we
shall do, if God permit; in the meantime praying the God and
Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath, of the riches
of his grace, recovered us from a state pf enmity into a condition of
communion and fellowship with himself, that both he that writes,
and they that read the words of his mercy, may have such a taste of
his sweetness and excellencies therein, as to be stirred up to a farther
longing after the fulness of his salvation, and the eternal fruition of
him in glory.

CHAPTER II.
That the saints have this communion distinctly with the Father, Son, and Spirit —
I John v. 7 opened to this purpose ; also, 1 Cor. xii. 4-6, Eph. ii. 18 — Father
and Son mentioned jointly in this communion ; the Father solely, the Son
also, and the Holy Ghost singly — The saints' respective regard in all worship
to each person manifested — Faith in the Father, 1 John v. 9, 10; and love
towards him, 1 John ii. 15, Mat i. 6 — So in prayer and praise — It is so like
wise with the Son. John xiv. 1 — Of our communion with the Holy Ghost —
The truth farther confirmed.
That the saints have communion with God, and what communion
in general is, was declared in the first chapter. The manner how this
communion is carried on, and the matter wherein it doth consist,
comes next under consideration. For the first, in respect of the dis
tinct persons of the Godhead with whom they have this fellowship, it
is either distinct and peculiar, or else obtained and exercised jointly
and in common. That the saints have distinct communion with the
Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit (that is, distinctly with the
Father, and distinctly with the Son, and distinctly with the Holy
Spirit), and in what the peculiar appropriation of this distinct com-
. »« Magna etiam ilia communitas est, quae conficitur ex beneficiis ultro citro,
datis acceptis."— Cic. Off., lib. i. c. 17.

10 OF COMMUNION WITH EACH PERSON DISTINCTLY.
munion unto the several persons doth consist, must, in the first place,
be made manifest.1
1 John v. 7, the apostle tells us, " There are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost." In heaven
they are, and bear witness to us. And what is it that they bear wit
ness unto? Unto the sonship of Christ, and the salvation of believers
in his blood. Of the carrying on of that, both by blood and water,
justification and sanctification, is he there treating. Now, how do
they bear witness hereunto? even as three, as three distinct witnesses.
When God witnesseth concerning our salvation, surely it is incumbent
on us to receive his testimony. And as he beareth witness, so are
we to receive it. Now this is done distinctly. The Father beareth
witness, the Son beareth witness, and the Holy Spirit beareth witness;
for they are three distinct witnesses. So, then, are we to receive their
several testimonies : and in doing so we have communion with them
severally; for in this giving and receiving of testimony consists no
small part of our fellowship with God. Wherein their distinct wit
nessing consists will be afterward declared.
1 Cor. xii 4-6, the apostle, speaking of .the distribution of gifts
and graces unto the saints, ascribes them distinctly, in respect of the
fountain of their communication, unto the distinct persons. " There
are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit,"2 — " that one and the self
same Spirit ; " that is, the Holy Ghost, verse 11. " And there are dif
ferences of administrations, but the same Lord," the same Lord Jesus,
verse 5. " And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same
God," etc., even the Father, Eph. iv. 6. So graces and gifts are
bestowed, and so are they received.
And not only in the emanation of grace from God, and the illapses
of the Spirit on us, but also in all our approaches unto God, is the
same distinction observed.3 "For through Christ. we have access
by one Spirit unto the Father," Eph. ii 18. Our access unto God
(Wherein we have communion with him) is ha Xpierotj, " through
Christ," h Unvfian, "in the Spirit," and vrpbs rbv Xlarspa, "unto the
Father;" — the persons being here considered as engaged distinctly
unto the accomplishment of the counsel of the will of God revealed
in the gospel.
Sometimes, indeed, there is express mention made only of the
1 " Ecce dico alium esse patrem, et alium filium, non divisione alium, sed dis-
tinc tione." — Tertul. adv. Prax.
Oo ftxm ri iv icwxi, xx) roTg r(ir) *ty\x/t*-o/txi, ei tplxtu ra v(ia iuXut, xxi tig to h
Avxtpi^e/txt  Greg. Naz.
2 Xx^iff/txra, faxxovixg, hi_y^/txrx.
' nSrav /th yitjlinrn xx) ^ocioXlh xx) tmd_n, xx) ihxx_,rrixi xtxri/nrr'ut tZ W)
vxn ©t£, iii «b Iv) <rayr«v xyyiXon x_x"e>"i ift$D%iB xiyav xx) Buii.  Orie cont.
Cels.. lib. v. [c. 4.] 6'

OF COMMUNION WITH EACH PERSON DISTINCTLY. 11
Father and the Son, 1 John i. 3, " Our fellowship is with the Father,
and with his Son Jesus Christ." The particle " and" is both distin
guishing and uniting. Also John xiv. 23, " If a man love me, he
will keep my words : and my Father will love him, and we will come
unto him, and make our abode with him." It is in this. communion
wherein Father and Son do make their abode with -the soul.
Sometimes the Son only is spoken of, as to this purpose. 1 Cor.
i. 9, " God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of
his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." And, Rev. iii. 20, " If any man
hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will
sup with him, and he with me;" — of which place afterward.
Sometimes the Spirit alone is mentioned. 2 Cor. xiii. 14, " The
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the com
munion of the Holy Ghost be with you all." This distinct communion,
then, of the saints with the Father, Son, and Spirit, is very plain in
the Scripture; but yet it may admit of farther demonstration Only
this caution I must lay in beforehand: — whatever is affirmed in the
pursuit of this truth, it is done with relation to the explanation en
suing, in the beginning of the next chapter.
The way and means, then, on the part of the saints, whereby in
Christ they enjoy communion with God, are all the spiritual and holy
actings1 and outgoings of their souls in those graces, and by those
ways, wherein both the moral and instituted wprship of God doth
consist. Faith, love, trust, joy, etc., are the natural or moral worship
of God, whereby those in whom they are have communion with him.
Now, these are either immediately acted on God, and not tied to any
ways or means outwardly manifesting themselves; or else they are
farther drawn forth, in solemn prayer and praises, according unto
that way which he hath appointed. That the Scripture doth distinctly
assign all these unto the Father, Son, and Spirit, — manifesting that
the saints do, in all of them, both as they are purely and nakedly
moral, and as farther clothed with instituted worship, respect each
person respectively, — is that which, to give light to the assertion in
hand, I shall farther declare by particular instances: —
1. For the Father. Faith, love, obedience, etc., are peculiarly and
distinctly yielded by the saints unto him;' and he is peculiarly mani
fested in those ways as acting peculiarly towards them: which should
draw them forth and stir them up thereunto. He gives testimony
unto, and beareth witness of, his Son, 1 John v. 9, " This is the wit
ness of God which he hath testified of his Son." In his bearing
witness he is an object of belief. When he gives testimony (which
he doth as the Father, because he doth it of the Son) he is to be
received in it by faith. And this is affirmed, verse 10, " He that
1 Hic tibi prsecipue sit purSt mente colendus.

12 OF COMMUNION WITH EACH PERSON DISTINCTLY.
believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself." To believe
on the Son of God in this place, is to receive the Lord Christ as the
Son, the Son given unto us,1 for all the ends of the Father's love,
upon the credit of the Father's testimony; and, therefore, therein is
faith immediately acted on the Father. So it follows in the next
words} " He that -beheveth not God" (that is, the Father, who bears
witness to the Son) " hath made him a liar." " Ye believe in God,"
saith our Saviour, John xiv. 1 ; that is, the Father as such, for he
adds, " Believe also in me;" or, " BeHeve you in God; believe also in
me." God, as the prima Veritas, upon whose authority is founded,
and whereunto all divine faith is ultimately resolved, is not to be
considered vmerarixuc, as peculiarly expressive of any person, but
oveiuhoit, comprehending the whole Deity; which undividedly is the
prime object thereof. But in this particular it is the testimony and
authority of the Father(as such) therein, of which we speak, and where
upon faith is distinctly fixed on him ; — which, if it were not so, the
Son could not add, " Believe also in me."
The like also is said of love. 1 John ii. 15, " If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him;" that is, the love which
we bear to him, not that which we receive from him. The Father
is here placed as the object of our love, in opposition to the world,
which takes up our affections n Ly&nrn tov TJarp6s. The Father de
notes the matter and objed;, not the efficient cause, of the love in
quired after. And this love of him as a Father is that which he
calls his " honour," Mai. i. 6.
Farther: these graces as acted in prayer and praises, and as clothed
with instituted worship, are peculiarly directed unto him. " Ye call
on the Father," 1 Pet. i 17. Eph. iii. 14, 15, " For this cause I bow
my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of swhom the ¦
whole family in heaven and earth is named." Bowing the knee
compriseth the whole worship of God, both that which is moral, in
the universal obedience he requireth, and those peculiar ways of
carrying it on which are by him appointed, Isa. xiv. 23, "Unto
me," saith the Lord, "every knee shall bow, every tongue shall
swear." Which, verses 24, 25, he declareth to consist in their ac
knowledging of him for righteousness and strength. Yea, it seems
sometimes to comprehend the orderly subjection of the whole crea
tion unto his sovereignty.* In this place of the apostle it hath a far
more restrained acceptation, and is but a figurative expression of
prayer, taken from the most expressive bodily posture to be used hi
' Isa. ix. 6; 1 Cor. i. 30; Matt. v. 16, 46, vi. 1, 4, 6, 8, vii. 21, xii. 50; Luke xxiv.
49; John iv. 23, vi. 45, xii. 26, xiv. 6, 21, 23, xv. 1, xvi. 25, 27, xx. 17; Gal. i. 1, 3;
Eph. ii. 18, v. 20; 1 Thess. i. 1; James i. 17; 1 Pet. i. 17; 1 John ii. 13, etc.
• Rom. xiv. IU, 11; Phil. ii. 10.

OF COMMUNION WITH EACH PERSON DISTINCTLY. 13
that duty. This he farther manifests, Eph. iii. 16, 1 7, declaring at large
what his aim was, and whereabouts his thoughts were exercised, in
that bowing of his knees. The workings, then, of the Spirit of grace
in that duty are distinctly directed to the Father as such, as the
fountain of the Deity, and of all good things in Christ, — as the
" Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." And therefore the same apostle
doth, in another place, expressly conjoin, and yet as expressly distin
guish, the Father and the Son in directing his supplications, 1 Thess.
iii 11, "God himself even our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ,
direct our way unto you." The like precedent, also, have you of
thanksgiving, Eph. i 3, 4, " Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ," etc. I shall not add those very many places
wherein the several particulars1 that do concur unto that whole divine
worship (not to be communicated unto any, by nature not God, with
out idolatry) wherein the saints do hold communion with God, are
distinctly directed to the person of the Father.
2. It is so also in reference unto the Son. John xiv. 1, " Ye be
lieve in God," saith Christ, " believe also in me;" — " Believe also, act
faith distinctly on me ; faith divine, supernatural,-— that faith whereby
you believe in God, that is, the Father." There is a believing of Christ,
— namely, that he is the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. That
is that whose neglect our Saviour so threatened unto the Pharisees,
John viii. 24, " If ye beUeve not that I am he, ye shall die in youi
sins." In this sense faith is not immediately fixed on the Son, being
only an owning of him (that is, the Christ, to be the Son), by closing
with the testimony of the Father concerning him. But there is also
a believing on him, called " Believing on the name of the Sbn of
God," 1 John v. 13; so also John ix 36; — yea, the distinct affixing
of faith, affiance, and confidence on the Lord Jesus Christ the Son
of God, as the Son of God, is most frequently pressed. John iii. 16,
" God" (that is, the Father) "so loved the world,  that whosoever
believeth in him" (that is, the Son) " should not perish." The Son,
who is given of the Father, is believed on. "He that believeth on
him is not condemned," verse 18. "He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life," verse 36. " This is the work of God, that ye
believe on him whom he hath sent," John vi. 29, 40; 1 John v. 10.
The foundation of the whole is laid, John v. 23, "That all men
should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that
honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent
him." But of this honour and worship of the Son I have treated at
large elsewhere;2 and shall not in general insist upon it again. For
love, I shall only add that solemn apostolical benediction, Eph. vi. 24,
" Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity,"
1 Jer. x. 10, xvii. 5, 6; Gal. iv. 8. 2 Vind. Evan., cap. A. vol. xii.

14 OF COMMUNION WITH EACH PEESON DISTINCTLY.
—that is, with divine love, the love of religious worship; which is
the only incorrupt love of the Lord Jesus.
Farther: that faith, hope, and love, acting themselves in all man
ner of obedience and appointed worship, are peculiarly due from the
saints,1 and distinctly directed unto the Son, is abundantly mani
fest from that solemn doxology, Rev. i 5, 6, " Unto him that loved
us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made
us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and
dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Which yet is set forth with
more glory, chap. v. 8, " The four living creatures, and the four and
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them
harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints : "
and verses 13, 14, "Every creature which is in heaven, and on the
earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that
are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and
power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb
for ever and ever." The Father and the Son (he that sits upon the
throne, and the Lamb) are held out jomtly, yet distinctly, as the ade
quate object of all divine worship and honour, for ever and everv
And therefore Stephen, in his solemn dying invocation, fixeth his
faith and hope distinctly on hini, Acts vii. 59, 60, " Lord Jesus, re
ceive my spirit;" and, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge;" — for .
he knew that the Son of man had power to forgive sins also. And
this worship of the Lord Jesus, the apostle makes the discriminating
character of the saints, 1 Cor. i. 2, " With all," saith he, " that in
every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs
and ours;" that is, with all the saints of God. And invocation gene
rally comprises the whole worship of God.a This, then, is the due of
our Mediator, though as God, as the Son, — not as Mediator.
3. Thus also is it in reference unto the Holy Spirit of grace. The
closing of the great sin of unbelief8 is still described as an opposition
unto, and a resisting of that Holy Spirit. And you have distinct
mention of the love of the Spirit, Rom. xv. 30. The apostle also
peculiarly directs his supplication to him in that solemn benediction,
2 Cor. xiii. 14, " The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of
God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all." And
such benedictions are originally supplications. He is likewise en
titled unto all instituted worship, from the appointment of the admi
nistration of baptism in his name, Matt, xxviii. 19. Of which things
more afterward.
1 Ps. ii. 7, 12; Dan. iii. 25; Matt. iii. 17, xvii. 5, xxii. 45; John iii. 36, v. 19-26,
viii. 36; 1 Cor. i. 9; Gal. i. 16, iv. 6; 1' John ii. 22-24, v. 10-13; Heb. i. 6; PhU.
ii. 10; John v. 23.
» Isa. lvi. 7; Rom x. 12-14. 3 Acts vii. 51.

OF COMMUNION WITH EACH PERSON DISTINCTLY. 15
Now, of the things which have been delivered this is the sum : —
there is no grace whereby our souls go forth unto God, no act of divine
worship yielded unto him, no duty or obedience performed, but they are
distinctly directed unto Father, Son, and Spirit. Now, by these and
such like ways as these, do we hold communion with God ; and there
fore we have that oommunion distinctly, as hath been described.
This also may farther appear, if we consider how distinctly the
persons of the Deity are revealed to act in the communication of
those good things, wherein the saints have communion with God.1
As all the spiritual ascendings of their souls are assigned unto them
respectively, so all their internal receivings of the communications of
God unto them are held out in such a distribution as points at dis
tinct rises and fountains (though not of being in themselves, yet) of
dispensations unto us. Now this is declared two ways: —
(1.) When the same thing is, at the same time, ascribed jointly
and yet distinctly to all the persons in the Deity, and respectively to
each of them. So are grace and peace, Rev. i. 4, 5, " Grace be unto
you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to
come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; and
from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness," etc. The seven
Spirits before the throne, are the Holy Spirit of God, considered as
the perfect fountain of every perfect gift and dispensation. All are
here joined together, and yet all mentioned as distinguished in their
communication of grace and peace unto the saints. " Grace and
peace be unto you,. from the Father, and from," etc.
(2.) When the same thing is attributed severally and singly unto
each person. There is, indeed, no gracious influence from above, no
illapse of .light, life, love, or grace upon our hearts, but proceedeth in
such a dispensation. I shall give only one instance, which is very
comprehensive, and may be thought to comprise all other particulars;
and this is TEACHING. The teaching of God is the real communica
tion of all and every particular emanation from himself unto the
saints whereof they are made partakers. That promise, " They shall
be all taught of God," inwraps in itself the whole mystery of grace,
as to its actual dispensation unto us, so far as we may be made real
possessors of it. Now this is assigned, — .
[1.] Unto the Father. The accomplishment of that promise is
peculiarly referred to him, John vi. 45, " It is written in the pro
phets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore
that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me."
This teaching, whereby we are translated from death unto life, brought
1 "Tametsi omnia unus idemque Deus efficit,ut dicitur,— opera Trinitatis ad extra
sunt indivisa, distinguuntur tamen personse discrimine in istis operibus." — Matt.
iii. 16; Acts iii. 13; Gen. xix. 24, i. 26; Matt, xxviii. 19; 2 Cor. xiii. 14.

16 OF COMMUNION WITH EACH PERSON DISTINCTLY.
unto Christ, unto a participation of life and love in him, — it is of and
from the Father: him we hear, of him we learn,1 by him are we
brought unto union and communion with the Lord Jesus. This is
his drawing us, his begetting us anew of, his own will, by his own
Spirit; and in which work he employs the ministers of the gospel,
Acts xxvi. 17, 18.
[2.] Unto the SON. The Father proclaims him from heaven to be
the great teacher, in that solemn charge to hear him, which came once
[and] again from the excellent glory : " This is my beloved Son ; hear
him." The whole of his prophetical, and no small part of his kingly
office, consists in this teaching; herein is he said to draw men unto
him, as the Father is said to do in his teaching, John xii 32; which
he doth with such efiicacy, that " the dead hear his voice and live."2
The teaching of the Son is a life-giving, a spirit-breathing teaching; — -
an effectual influence of hght, whereby he shines into darkness ; a com
munication of life, quickening the dead ; an opening of blind eyes,
and changing of hard hearts; a pouring out of the Spirit, with all the
fruits thereof. Hence he claims it as his privilege to be the sole
master, Matt, xxiii. 10, " One is your Master, even Christ."
[3.] To the SpntiT. John xiv. 26, " The Comforter, he shall teach
you all things." " But the anointing which ye have received," saith
the apostle, " abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach
you : but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is
truth, and is no he, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in
him," 1 John ii 27. That teaching unction which is not only true,
but truth itself, is only the Holy Spirit of God : so that he teacheth
also ; being given unto us " that we might know the things that are
freely given to us of God," 1 Cor. ii. 12. I have chosen this special
instance because, as I told you, it is comprehensive, and comprises
m itself most of the particulars that might be annumerated, — quicken
ing, preserving, etc.
This, then, farther drives on the truth that lies under demonstra
tion; there being such a distinct communication of grace from the
several persons of the Deity, the saints must heeds have distinct com
munion with them.
It remaineth only to intimate, in a word, wherein this distinction
lies, and what is the ground thereof. Now, this is, that the Father
doth it by the way of original authority; the Son by the way of com
municating from a purchased treasury; the Holy Spirit by the way
of immediate efficacy.
1st. The Father communicates all grace by the way of original
1 Matt. xi. 25; John i. 13; James i. 18.
3 Matt. iii. 17, xvii. 5; 2 Pet. i. 17; Deut. xviii. 15-20, etc.; Acts iii. 22, 23;
John v. 25; Isa. lxi. 1-3; Luke iv. 18, 19.

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER. 17
authority: "He quiekeneth WHOM HE will," John v. 21. "Of
his own will begat he us," James i 18. Life-giving power is, in
respect of origmal authority, invested in the Father by the way of
eminency; and therefore, in sending of the quickening Spirit, Christ
is said to do it from the Father, or the Father himself to do it. " But
the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send,"
John xiv. 26. " But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send
unto you from the Father," John xv. 26 ; — though he be also said to
send him himself, on another account, John xvi. 7.
2dly. The Son, by the way of making out a purchased treasury:
" Of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace," John i 16.
And whence is this fulness ? "It pleased the Father that in him
should all fulness dwell," Col. i 19. And upon what account he hath
the dispensation of that fulness to him committed you may see, Phil.
ii 8-11. " When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied:
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall
bear their iniquities," Isa. liii. 10,11. And with this fulness he hath also
authority for the communication of it, John v. 25—27; Matt, xxviii. 18.
3dly. The Spirit doth it by the way of immediate efficacy, Rom.
viii 11, " But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Here are all
three comprised, with their distinct concurrence unto our quickening.
Here is the Father's authoritative quickening, — "Heraised Christ from
the dead, and he shall quicken you;" and the Son's mediatory quick
ening, — for it is done in " the death of Christ;" and the Spirit's imme
diate efficacy, — "He shall do it by the Spirit that dwelleth in you." He
that desires to see this whole matter farther explained, may consult
what I have elsewhere written on this subject. And thus is the dis
tinct communion whereof we treat both proved and demonstrated.

CHAPTER III.
Of the peculiar and distinct communion which the saints have with the Father —
Observations for the clearing of the whole premised — Our peculiar com
munion with the Father is in love — 1 John iv. 7, 8 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 14 ; John
xvi. 26, 27; Rom. v. 5; John iii. 16, xiv. 23; Tit. iii. 4, opened to this pur
pose  What is r -quired of believers to hold communion with the Father in
love — His love r jceived by faith — Returns of love to him — God's love to us
and ours to him — Wherein they agree — Wherein they differ;
Having proved that there is such a distinct communion in respect
of Father, Son, and Spirit, as whereof we speak, it remains that it
VOL. il 2

18 OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER
be farther cleared up by an induction of instances, to manifest what
[it is], and wherein the saints peculiarly hold this communion with the
several persons respectively : which also I shall do, after the premising
some observations, necessary to be previously considered, as was pro
mised, for the clearing of what hath been spoken. And they are
these that follow : —
1. When I assign any thing as peculiar wherein we distinctly
hold communion with any person, I do not exclude the other persons
from communion with the soul in the very same thing. Only this,
I say, principally, immediately, and by the way of eminency, we
have, ih such a thing, or in such a way, communion with some one
person ; and therein with the others secondarily, and by the way of
consequence on that foundation; for the person, as the person, of any
one of them, is not the prime object of divine worship, but as it is
identified with the nature or essence of God. Now, the works that
outwardly are of God (called " Trinitatis ad extra"),1 which are com
monly said to be common and undivided, are either wholly so, and
in all respects, as all works of common providence; or else, being
common in respect of their acts, they are distinguished in respect of
that principle, or next and immediate rise in the manner of opera
tion: so creation is appropriated to the Father, redemption to the
Son. In which sense we speak of these things.
2. There is a concurrence of the, actings and operations of the"
whole Deity* in that dispensation, wherein each person concurs to
the work of our salvation, unto every act of our communion with each
singular person. Look, by what act soever we hold communion with
any person, there is an influence from every person to the putting
forth of that act.3 As, suppose it to be the act of faith : — It is be
stowed on us by the Father: " It is not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God," Eph. ii. 8. It is the Father that revealeth the gospel, and
Christ therein, Matt. xi. 25. And it is purchased for us by the Son:
" Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, to believe on him,"
Phil. i. 29. In him are we " blessed with spiritual blessings," Eph. i 3.
He bestows on us, and increaseth faith in us, Luke xvii. 5. And it is
wrought in us by the Spirit ; he administers that " exceeding greatness
of his power," which he exerciseth'towards them who believe, " ac
cording to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in
Christ, when he raised him from the dead," Eph. i 19,20; Rom. viii. 11.
1 Opera ad extra sunt indivisa.
3 Hxrh_ <rv* vii. xx) vx\xytv -r-tli/txTl
T_ixg qrfiturtaeoig ivx_ivhs, /tovxg tfivo-u.
Mjjt' ovv x_i0/cy o-vyx'sris vicoarxo-ug,
M«T XI J&fiOV 0-V ir_0O-KVVW* Tl/tXg QuCi*'
Mix t_ixs yxw, iig Suis *-aimx_xraif. — Greg. Naz. Iamb. Car. iii.
5 Tlftfxvtu/iit civ /tixt it this rsiiri 9sotjit«.=— Idem. Orat., 24. See Thom. 22,
- q. 84, A. 3, q. 84, a. 1; Alexan. Ales. Sum. Theol., p. 3, q. 30, m. 1, a. 3.

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER. 19
S. When I assign any particular thing wherein we hold com
munion with any person, I do not do it exclusively unto other me
diums of communion ; but only by the way of inducing a special and
eminent instance for the proof and manifestation of the former gene
ral assertion : otherwise there is no grace or duty wherein we have
not communion with God in the way described. In every thing where
in we are made partakers of the divine nature, there is a communi
cation and receiving between God and us ; so near are we unto him
in Christ.
4. By asserting this distinct communion, which merely respects
that order in the dispensation of grace which God is pleased to hold
out in the gospel, I intend not in the least to shut up all communion
with God under these precincts (his ways being exceeding broad, con
taining a perfection whereof there is no end), nor to prejudice that
holy fellowship we have with the whole Deity, in our walking before
him in covenant-obedience ; which also, God assisting, I shall handle
hereafter. These few observations being premised, I come now to declare
what it is wherein peculiarly and eminently the saints have com
munion with the Father; and this is LOVE, — free, undeserved, and
eternal love. This the Father peculiarly fixes upon the saints ; this
they are immediately to eye in him, to receive of him, and to make
such returns thereof as he is delighted withal. This is the great dis
covery of the gospel : for whereas the Father, as the fountain of the
Deity, is not known any other way but as full of wrath, anger, and
indignation against sin, nor can the sons of men have any other
thoughts of him (Rom. i 18; Isa. xxxiii 13,14; Hab. i. 13; Ps. v. 4-6;
Eph. ii. 3), — here he is npw revealed peculiarly as leve, as full of it
unto us; the manifestation whereof is the peculiar work of the gospel,
Tit. iii. 4.
1. 1 John iv. 8, " God is love." That the name of God is here
taken personally,1 and for the person of the Father, not essentially,
is evident from verse 9, where he is distinguished from his only be
gotten Son whom he sends into .the world. Now, saith he, " The
Father is love ; " that is, not only of an infinitely gracious, tender, com
passionate, and loving nature, according as he hath proclaimed him
self, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7, but also one that eminently and peculiarly
dispensed himself unto us in free love." So the apostle sets it forth
in the following verses: "This is love," verse 9 ;— "This is that which
I would have you take notice of in him, that he makes out love unto
1 Deut. xxxiii. 3 ; Jer. xxxi. 3; John iii. 16, v. 42, xiv. 21; Rom. v. 5, viii. 39;
Eph. ii. 4; 1 John ii. 15, iv.10,11; Heb. xii. 6. "Multo i/tfxnxtiri^t loquitur quam
si Deum diceret summopere, atque adeo infinite nos araare, cum Deum dicit orga
nos ipsam charitatem esse, cujus latissimum rtx/tfym profert." — Beza in loc.

20 OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER.
you, in ' sending his only begotten Son into the world, that we mignt
live through him.'" So also, verse 10, " He loved us, and sent his
Son to be the propitiation for our sins.". And that this is peculiarly
to be eyed in him, the Holy Ghost plamly declares, in making it an
tecedent to the sending of Christ, and all mercies and benefits what
ever by him received. This love, I say, in itself, is antecedent to
the purchase of Christ, although the whole fruit thereof be made out
alone thereby, Eph. i 4-6.
2. So in that distribution made by the apostle in his solemn part
ing benediction, 2 Cor. xiii. 14, " The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of god, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, he with you
all." Ascribing sundry things unto the distinct persons, it is love that
he peculiarly assigns to the Father. And the fellowship of the Spirit
is mentioned with the grace of Christ and the love of God, because it
is by the Spirit alone that we have fellowship with Christ in grace,
and with the Father in love, although we have also peculiar fellow
ship with him; as shall be declared.
3. John xvi. 26, 27, saith our Saviour, "I say not unto you, that I
will pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loveth you."1
But how is this, that our Saviour saith, " I say not that I will pray the
Father for you," when he saith plainly, chap. xiv. 16, " I will pray
the Father for you ?" The disciples, with all the gracious words, com
fortable and faithful promises of their Master, with most heavenly
discoveries of his heart unto them, were even fully convinced of HIS
dear and tender affections towards them ; as also of his continued care
and kindness, that he would not forget them when bodily he was
gone from them, as he was now upon his departure : but now all their
thoughts are concerning the Father, how they should be accepted with
him, what respect he had towards them. Saith our Saviour, " Take
no care of that, nay, impose not that upon me, of procuring the
Father's love for you ; but know that this is his peculiar respect to
wards you, and which you are in him : ' He himself loves you.' It
is true, indeed (and as I told you), that I will pray the Father to
send you the Spirit, the Comforter, and with him all the gracious
fruits of his love ; but yet in the point of love itself, free love, eternal
love, there is no need of any intercession for that : for eminently the
Father himself loves you. Resolve of that, that you may hold com-
1 " Quomodo igitur negat? negat secundum quid; hoc est, negat se ideo rogatu-
rum patrem, ut patrem illis conciliet, et ad illos amandos et exaudiendos flectat;
quasi non sit suapte sponte erga illos propensus. Voluit ergo Christus his verbis per-
stiadere apostolis, non solum se, sed etiam ipsum patrem illos complecti amore maxi-
mo. Et ita patrem eos amare,ac promptum habere animum illis gratificandi,et bene-
faciendi, ut nullius, neque ipsius filii opus habeat tali intercessione, qua solent pla-
cari, et flecti homines non admodum erga aliquem bene affecti," etc. — Zanc. d<
trib. nom. Elo., lib. iv. cap. 9. Vid. Hilar de Trinit., lib. vi. p. 97., ed. Eras.

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER. 21
munion with him in it, and be no more troubled about it. Yea, as
your great trouble is about the Father's love, so you can no way more
trouble or burden him, than by your unkindness in not believing of
it." So it must needs be where sincere love is questioned.
4. The apostle teaches the same, Rom. v. 5, " The love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto
us." God, whose love this is, is plainly distinguished from the Holy
Ghost, who sheds abroad that love of his; and, verse 8, he is also
distinguished from the Son, for it is from that love of his that the
Son is sent : and therefore it is the Father of whom the apostle here
specially speaketh. And what is it that he ascribes to him? Even
love ; which also, verse 8, he commendeth to us, — sets it forth in such
a signal and eminent expression, that we may take notice of it, and
close with him in it. To carry this business to its height, there is not
only most frequent peculiar mention of the love of God, where the
Father is eminently intended, and of the love of the Father expressly,
but he is also called " The God of love," 2 Cor. xiii. 11, and is said
to be " K»vo : " so that whoever will know him, 1 John iv. 8, or dwell
in him by fellowship or communion, verse 16, must do it as " he is
love." 5. Nay, whereas there is a twofold divine love, beneplaciti and ami-
citios, a love of good pleasure and destination, and a love of friend
ship and approbation, they are both peculiarly assigned to the Father
in an eminent manner: —
(1.) John iii. 16, " God so loved the world, that he gave," etc. ; that
is, with the love of his purpose and good pleasure, his determinate
will of doing good. This is distinctly ascribed to him, being laid
down as the cause of sending his Son. So Rom. ix. 11, 12; Eph.
i 4, 5; 2 Thess. ii. 13, 14; 1 John iv. 8, 9.
(2.) John xiv.- 23, there is1 mention of that other kind of love
whereof we speak. " If a man love me," saith Christ, " he will keep
my words : and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him,
and make our abode with him." The love of friendship and approba
tion is here eminently ascribed to him. Says Christ, " We will come,"
even Father and Son, " to such a one, and dwell with him;" that
is, by the Spirit : but yet he would have us take notice, that, in point
of love, the Father hath a peculiar prerogative : " My Father will
love him."
6. Yea, and as this love is peculiarly to be eyed in him, so it is to
be looked on as the fountain of all following gracious dispensations.
Christians walk oftentimes with exceedingly troubled hearts, concern
ing the thoughts of the Father towards them. They are well per-
1 " Diligi a patre, recipi in amicitiam summi Dei; a Deo foveri, adeoque Deo esse
in deliciis." — Bucerus in loc.

22 OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER.
suaded of the Lord Christ and his good-will; the difficulty lies in
what is their acceptance with the Father, — what is his heart towards
them?1 " Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us," John xiv. 8.
Now, this ought to be so far aWay, that his love ought to be looked
on as the fountain from whence all other sweetnesses flow. Thus the
apostle sets it out, Tit. iii. 4, " After that the kindness and love of
God our Saviour toward man appeared." It is of the Father of whom
he speaks; for, verse 6, he tells us that " he makes out unto us," or
" sheds that love upon us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Sar
viour." And this love he makes the hinge upon which the great
alteration and translation of the saints doth turn; for, saith he, verse
3, " We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived,
serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful,
and hating one another." All naught, all out of order, and vile
Whence, then, is our recovery? The whole rise of it is from this love
of God, flowing out by the ways there described. For when the kind
ness and love of God appeared, — that is, in the fruits of it, — then did
this alteration ensue. To secure us hereof, there is not any thing that
hath a loving and tender nature in the world, and, doth att suitably
thereunto, which God hath not compared himself unto. Separate all
weakness and imperfection which is in them, yet great impressions of
love must abide. He is as a father, a mother, a shepherd, a hen over
chickens, and the like, Ps. ciii. 13; Isa. Ixiii. 16; Matt. vi. 6; Isa.
Ixvi. 13; Ps. xxiii. 1; Isa. xl. 11; Matt, xxiii. 37.
I shall not need to add any more proofs. This is that which is
demonstrated -.—There is love in the person of the Father peculiarly
held out unto the saints, as wherein he will and doth hold commu-
Siion with them.
Now, to complete communion with the Father in love, two things
are required of believers : — (1.) That they receive it of him. (2.) That
they make suitable returns unto him.
(1.) That they do receive it. Communion consists in giving and
. receiving. Until the love of the Father be received, we have no
communion with him therein. How, then, is this love of the Father
to be received, so as to hold fellowship with him? I answer, By faith.
The receiving of it is the" believing of it. God hath so fully, so emi
nently revealed his love, that it may be received by faith. " Ye be
lieve in God," John xiv. 1 ; that is, the Father. And what is to be
believed in him? His love; for he is "love," 1 John iv. 8.
It is true, there, is not an immediate acting of faith upon the Fa
ther, but by the Son. " He is the way, the truth, and the hfe : no
man cometh unto the Father but by him," John xiv. 6. He is the
1 " Te quod attinet non sumus solliciti, — illud modo desideramus, ut patrem no
bis vel semel iutueri concedatur." — Cartwright Har. in John xiv. 8.

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER 23
merciful high priest over the house of God, by whom we have1 access
to the throne of grace: by him is our manuduction unto the Father;
by him we believe in God, 1 Pet. i 21. But this is that I say, — When
by and through Christ we have an access unto the Father, we then
behold his glory also, and see his love that he peculiarly bears unto
us, and act faith thereon. We are then, I say, to eye it, to believe
it, to receive it, as in him; the issues and fruits' thereof being made
out unto us through Christ alone. Though there be no light for us
but in the beams, yet we may by beams see the- sun, which is
the fountain of it. Though all our refreshment actually lie in the
streams, yet by them we are led up unto the fountain. Jesus
Christ, in respect of the love of the Father, is but the beam, the
stream ; wherein though actually all our light, our refreshment lies,
yet by him we are led to the fountain, the sun of eternal love itself.
Would believers exercise themselves herein, they would find it a
matter of no small spiritual improvement in their walking with
God. This is that which is aimed at. Many dark and disturbing thoughts
are apt to arise in this thing. Few can carry up their hearts and
minds to this height by faith, as to rest their souls in the love of the
Father; they hve below it, in the troublesome region of hopes and
fears, storms and clouds. All here is serene and quiet. But how to
attain to this pitch they know not. This is the will of God, that he
may always be eyed as benign, kind, tender, loving, and unchange
able therein; and that peculiarly as the Father, as the great fountain
and spring of all gracious communications and fruits of love. This is
that which Christ came to reveal, — God as a Father, John i 18; that
name which he declares to those who are given him out of the world,
John xvii. 6. And this is that which he effectually leads us to by
himself, as he is the only, way of going to God as a Father, John
xiv. 5,6; that is, as love : and by doing so, gives us the rest which he
promiseth ; for the love of the Father is the only rest of the soui
It is true', as was said, we do not this formally in the first instant of
believing. We believe in God through Christ, 1 Pet. i. 21 ; faith seeks
out rest for the soul. This is presented to it by Christ, the mediator,
as the only procuring cause. Here it abides not, but by Christ it
hath an access to the Father, Eph. ii 18, — into his love; finds out
that he is love, as having a design, a purpose of love, a good pleasure
towards us from eternity, — a delight, a complacency, a good-will in
Christ, — all cause of anger and aversation being taken away. The
soul being thus, by faith through Christ, and by him, brought into
the bosom of God, into a comfortable persuasion and spiritual per
ception and sense of his love, there reposes and rests itself. And this
» Eph. ii 18.

24 OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER
is the first thing the saints do, in their communion with the Father;
of the due improvement whereof, more afterward.
(2.) For that suitable return which is required, this also (in a main
part of it, beyond which I shall not now extend it) consisteth in love.1
God loves, that he may be beloved.2 When he comes to command
the return of his received love, to complete communion with Turn, he
says, " My son, give me thine heart," Prov. xxiii. 26, — thy affections,
thy love. " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy
mind," Luke x. 27; this is the return that he demandeth. When
the soul sees God, in his dispensation of love, to be love, to be in
finitely lovely and loving, rests upon and delights in him as such,
— then hath it communion with him in love. This is love, that God
loves us first, and then we love him again. I shall not now go forth
into a description of divine love. Generally, love3 is an affection of
union and nearness, with complacency therein. So long as the Father
is looked on under any other apprehension, but only as acting love
upon the soul, it breeds in the soul a dread and aversation.4 Hence
the flying and hiding of sinners, in the Scriptures. But when he who
is the Father is considered as a father, acting love on the soul, this5
raises it to love again. This is, in faith, the ground of all acceptable
obedience, Deut. v. 10; Exod. xx. 6; Deut. x. 12, xi. 1, 13, xiii. 3.
Thus is this whole business stated by the apostle, Eph. i 4, " Ac
cording as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love."
It begins in the love of God, and ends in our love to him. That is
it which the eternal love of God aims at in us, and works us up unto.
It is true, our universal obedience falls within the compass of our
communion with God ; but that is with him as God, our blessed sove
reign, lawgiver, and rewarder: as he is the Father, our Father in
Christ, as revealed unto us to be love, above and contrary to all the .
expectations of the natural man; so it is in love that we have this
intercourse with him. Nor do I intend only that love which is as
the life and form of all moral obedience ; but a peculiar delight and
acquiescing in the Father, revealed effectually as love unto the soul.
That this communion with the Father in love may be made the
more clear and evident, I shall show two things: — [1.] Wherein this
1 Deut. vi. 4, 5.
3 " Amor superne descendens ad divinam pulchritudinem omnia convocat." 
Proclus lib. de Anima. et Dsem.
3 " Unio substantialis est causa amoris sui ipsius; similitudinis, est causa amoris
alterius; sed unio realis quam amans quaerit de re amata, est effect us amoris." 
Thom. 12, q. 28, 1, 3.
4 Josh. xxii. 5, xxiii. 11; Neh. i. 5.
8 Ps. xviii. 1, xxxi. 23, xcvii. 10, cxvi. 1; 1 Cor. ii. 9; James i. 12; Isa. lvi. 6;
Matt. xxii. 37; Rom. viii. 28.

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER. 25
love of God unto us cmd our love to him do agree, as to some man
ner of analogy and likeness. [2.] Wherein they1 differ; which will
farther discever the nature ef each ef them.
[I.] They agree in two things: —
1st. That they are each a' love of rest and complacency.
(1st.) The love of God is so. Zeph. iii. 17, " The Lord thy God in
the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee
with joy, he will rest in his love ; he will joy over thee with singing."
Both these things are here assigned unto God in his love, — 2rest
and delight. The words are, toansa B*nrv — « He shall be silent be
cause of his love." To rest with contentment is expressed by being
silent; that is, without repining, without complaint. This God doth
upon the account of his own love, so full, so every way complete and
absolute, that it will not allow him to complain of any thing in them
whom he loves, but he is silent on the account thereof. Or, " Rest in his
love ;" that is, he will not remove it, — he will not seek farther for an
other object. It shall make its abode upon the soul where it is once
fixed, for ever. And COMPLACENCY er DELIGHT: " He rejoiceth with
singing;" as one that is fully satisfied in that object he hath fixed his
love on. Here are two words used to express the delight and joy
that God hath in his love,— && and ^. The first denotes the
inward affection of the mind, joy of heart ; and to set out the in-
tenseness hereof, it is said he shall do it nC11?^3, — in gladness, or with
joy. To have joy of heart in gladness, is the highest expression of
delight in love. The latter word denotes not the inward affection,
but the outward3 demonstration of it: ayaKkicf* seems to be formed
of it. It is to exult in outward demonstration of internal delight
and joy; — " Tripudiare," to leap, as men 'overcome with some joyful
surprisal. And therefore God is said to do this n|"]3, — with a joyful
sound, or singing. To rejoice with gladness of heart, to exult with
singing and praise, argues the greatest delight and complacency pos
sible. When he wpuld express the contrary of this love, he says
oiix iU6xr\ei, — " he was not well pleased," 1 Cor. x. 5 ; he fixed not his
delight nor rest on them. And, " If any man draw back, the Lord's
soul hath no pleasure in him," Heb. x. 38; Jer. xxii. 28; Hos. viii. 8;
Mai. i. 10. He takes pleasure in those that abide with him. He
sings te his church, "A vineyard of red wine: I the Lord do keep
it," Isa. xxvii. 2, 3 ; Ps. cxlvii. 11, cxlix. 4. There is rest and compla-
1 'AtxXoym 5' (V xvxcxig Ta"f xx? v*l_o)(_vl ovirxig fiXixig, xx) -rm fiXwri* Sl;~ y'mtrlxl,
etc. — Arist. Eth., lib. viii. cap. 7.
' " Effectus amoris quando habetur amatum, est delectatio." — Thom. 12, q. 25,
a. 2, I. " Amor est complacentia amantis in amato. Amor est motus cordis, de-
lectantis se in aliquo." — August.
* " Externum magis gaudii gestum, quam internam animi Isetitiam significat,
cum velut tripudiis et volutationibus gaudere se quis ostendit." — Paguin. "kj
lmtitia gestiit, animi Isetitiam gestu corporis expressit, exilivit gaudio." — Calos.

26 OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER /
cency in his love. There is in the Hebrew but a metathesis of a
letter between the word that signifies a love of will and desire pns
is so to love), and that which denotes a love of rest and acquiescency
(which is, H36J) ; and both are appUed to God. He wills good to us,
that he may rest in that wili Some say, aya<ir$v, " to love," is from
ayav irofasOai, perfectly to acquiesce in the thing loved. And when
God calls his Son ayaitnroi, " beloved," Matt. iii. 17, he adds, as an
exposition of it, Iv $ ebdoxqga, " in whom I rest well pleased."
(2dly.) The return that the saints make unto him, to complete com
munion with him herein, holds some analogy with his love in this;
for it is a love also of1 rest and delight. " Return unto thy rest, O
my soul," says David, Ps. cxvi. 7. He makes God his rest; that is,
he in whom his soul doth rest, without seeking farther for a more
suitable and desirable object. " Whom have I," saith he, " in heaven
but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee,"
Ps. Ixxiii. 25.3 Thus the soul gathers itself from all its wanderings,
from all other beloveds, to rest in God alone, — to satiate and content
itself in him ; choosing the Father for his present and eternal rest.
And this also with delight. "Thy loving-kindness," saith the psalmist,
" is better than life ; therefore will I praise thee," Ps. Ixiii 3. " Than
Hfe," D"D?, — before lives. I will not deny but life in a single con
sideration sometimes is so expressed, but always emphatically; so
that the whole life, with all the concernments of it, which may ren
der it considerable, are thereby intended. Austin, on this place,
reading it3 " super vitas," extends it to the several courses of life that
men engage themselves in. Life, in the whole continuance of it,
with all its advantages whatever, is at least intended. Supposing
himself in the jaws of death, rolling into the grave through innu
merable troubles, yet he found more sweetness in God than in a long
hfe, under its best and most noble considerations, attended with all
enjoyments that make it pleasant and comfortable. From both these
is that of the church, in Hos. xiv. 3, " Asshur shall not save us ; we
will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work
of our hands, Ye are our gods: for in thee the fatherless findeth
mercy." They reject the most goodly appearances of rest and con
tentment, to make up all in God, on whom they cast themselves, as
otherwise helpless orphans.
2dly. The mutual love of God and the saints agrees in this, — that
1 " Fecisti nos ad te, domine, et irrequietum est cor nostrum donee veniat ad
te."— Aug. Conf.
8 Ps. xxxvii. 7; Isa. xxviii. 12; Heb. iv. 9.
3 " Super vitas : quas vitas ? Quas sibi homines eligunt; alius elegit sibi vitam
negociandi, alius vitam rusticandi; alius vitam foenerandi, alius vitam militandi,
alius illam, alius illam. Diversse sunt vitie, sed melior est misericordia tua super
vitas nostras." — Aug. Enarrat. in Ps. lxii.

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER 27
the way of communicating the issues and fruits of these loves is only in
Christ. The Father communicates no issue of his love unto us but
through Christ; and we make no return of love unto him but through
Christ. He is the treasury wherein the Father disposeth all the
riches of his grace, taken from the bottomless mine of his eternal love ;
and he is the priest into whose hand we put all the offerings that we
return unto the Father. Thence he is first, and by way of eminency,
said to love the Son ; not only as his eternal Son,— as he was the de
light of his soul before the foundation of the world, Prov. viii. 30, —
but also as our mediator, and the means of conveying his love to us,
Matt, iii 17; John iii. 35, v. 20, x. 17, xv. 9, xvii 24. And we are
said through him to believe in and to have access to God.
(1st.) The Father loves us, and " chose us before the foundation
of the world;" but in the pursuit of that love, he " blesseth us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ," Eph. i 3, 4.
From his love, he sheds or pours out the Holy Spirit richly upon us,
through Jesus Christ our Saviour, Tit. iii. 6. In the pouring out of
his love, there is not one drop falls besides the Lord Christ. The
holy anointing oil was all poured on the head of Aaron, Ps. cxxxiii. 2 ;
and thence went down to the skirts of his clothing. Love is first
poured out on Christ; and from him it drops as the dew of Hermon
upon the souls of his saints. The Father will have him to have " in
all things the pre-eminence," Col. i 18; "it pleased him that in him
all fulness should dwell," verse 19 ; that " of his fulness we might re
ceive, and grace for grace," John i 16. Though the love of the
Father's purpose and good pleasure have its rise and foundation in
his mere grace and will, yet the design of its accomplishment is only
in Christ. All the fruits of it are first given to him; and it is in him
only that they are dispensed to us. So that though the saints may,
nay, do, see an infinite ocean of love unto them in the bosom of the
Father, yet they are not to look for one drop from him but what
comes through Christ. He is the only means of communication.
Love in the Father is like honey in the flower; — it must be in the
comb before it be for our use. Christ must extract and prepare this
honey for us. He draws this water from the fountain through union
and dispensation of fulness; — we by faith, from the weUs of salvation
that are in him. This was in part before discovered.
(2dly.) Our returns are all in him, and by him also. And well is
it with us that it is so. What lame and blind sacrifices should we
otherwise present unto God ! He ^ears the iniquity of our offerings,
and he adds incense unto our prayers. Our love is fixed on the
Father; but it is conveyed to him through the Son of his love. He
is the only way for our graces as well as our persons to go unto God;
1 Exod. xxviii. 38; Rev. viii. 3; John xiv. 6; Heb. x. 19-22.

28 OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER
through him passeth all our desire, our dehght, our complacency, our
obedience. Of which more afterward.
Now, in these two things there is some resemblance between that
mutual love of the Father and the saints wherein they hold com
munion. [2.] There are sundry things wherein they differ: — ¦
1st. The love of God is a love" of bounty; our love unto him is a
love of duty.
(1st.) The love of the Father is a love of bounty, — a descending love;
such a love as carries him out to do good things to us, great things
for us. His love hes at the bottom of all dispensations towards us ;
and we scarce anywhere find any mention of it, but it is held out
as the cause and fountain of some free gift flowing from it. . He ^oves
us,- and sends his Son to die for us; — he loves us, and blesseth us
with all spiritual blessings. Loving is choosing, Rom. ix. 11, 12. He
loves us and chastiseth us. [It is] a "love like that of the heavens to
the earth, when, being full of rain, they pour forth showers to make
it fruitful ; as the sea communicates its waters to the rivers by the
way of bounty, out of its own fulness, — they return unto it only what
they receive from it. It is the love of a spring, of a fountain, — always
communicating; — 3a love from whence proceeds every thing that is
lovely in its object. It infuseth into, and creates goodness in, the
persons beloved. And this answers the description of love given by
the philosopher. " To love," saith he, " sen ^oiXsaSai nvl a. bhrai ayadi,
xal xara duva.ix.iv irpaxnxbv thai tovtuv." He that loves works Out good
to them he loveth, as he is able. God's power and will are commen
surate ; — what he willeth he worketh.
(2dly.) Our love unto God is a love of duty, the love of a child.
His love descends upon us in bounty and fruitfulness;4 our love
ascends unto him in duty and thankfulness. He adds to us by his
love ; we nothing to him by ours. Our goodness extends not unto
him. Though our love be fixed on him6 immediately, yet no fiuit of
our love reacheth him immediately; though he requires our love, he
is not benefited by it, Job xxxv. 5-8, Rom. xi. 35, Job xxii 2, 3. It
is indeed made up of these four things: — 1. Rest; 2. Delight; 3.
Reverence; 4. Obedience. By these do we hold communion with
4 John iii. 16; Rom. v. 8; Eph. i. 3, 4; 1 John iv. 9, 10; Heb. xii. 6; Rev. iii. 19.
i 'Ejkv Jt rt/ttit ii_xt2t irX>ict>i/tim S/tG(cv, <riniv ilg yx7xv. — Eurip., [as quoted by
Aristotle, Eth. viii. 1. The quotation at large is : —
'EgoE 3* J ftfttog ev^xtog vrXvifov/ttvog
"O/tfyov, viruv tig yuTxv 'Apfdtf-jVijf #«¦«. — Eurip. Frag.]
* " Amor Dei est infuudens et creans bouitatem in amatis." — Thom. p. p. q. 20,
A. 2, C.
' " Amor Dei causat bonitatem in rebus, sed amor noster causatur ab ea."
s " Dilectio quae est appetitivoe virtutis actus, etiam in statum vise tendit in
Deum primo et immediate." — Thom. 22, q. 27, a. 4.

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER. 29
the Father in his love. Hence God calls that love which is due to
him as a father, " honour," Mai. i 6, " If I be a father, where is mine
honour ?" It is a deserved act of duty.
Idly. They differ in this : — The love of the Father unto us is an
antecedent love ; our love unto him is a consequent love.
(1st.) The love of the Father unto us is an antecedent love, and
that in two respects : —
[1st.] It is antecedent in respect of our love, 1 John iv. 10, " Herein
is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us." His love goes
before ours. The father loves the child, when the child knows not
the father, much less loves him. Yea, we are by nature ^sosrtiyiT'g,
Rom. i. 30, — haters of God. He is in his own nature piXdvdpairos, — a
lover of men; and surely all mutual love between him and us must
begin on his hand.
[2c%.] In respect of all other causes of love whatever. It goes not
only before our love, but also any thing in us that is lovely.1 Rom.
v. 8, " God commendeth his love towards us, in that whilst we were
yet sinners Christ died for us." Not only his love, but the eminent
fruit thereof, is made out towards us as sinners. Sin holds out all of
unloveliness and . undesirableness that can be in a creature. The
very mention of that removes all causes, all moving occasions of love
whatever. Yet, as such, have we the commendation of the Father's
love unto us, by a most signal testimony. Not only when we have
done no good, but when we are in our blood, doth he love us ; — not
because we are better than others, but because himself is infinitely
good. His kindness appears when we are foolish and disobedient.
Hence he is said to " love the world;" that is, those who have nothing
but what is in and of the world, whose whole [portion] lies in evil.
(2dly.) Our love is consequential in both these regards : —
[1st.] In respect of the love of God. Never did creature turn his af
fections towards God, if the heart of God were not first set upon him.
\2dly.] In respect of sufficient causes of love. God must be revealed
unto us as lovely and desirable, as a fit and suitable object unto the
soul to set up its rest upon, before we can bear any love unto him.
The saints (in this sense) do not love God for nothing, but for that
excellency, loveliness, and desirableness that is in him. As the psal
mist says, in one particular, Ps. cxvi 1 , " I love the Lord, because ! "
so may we in general ; we love the Lord, because ! Or, as David
in another case, " What have I now done? is there not a cause ?" If
any man inquire about our love to God, we may say, " What have
we now done? is there not a cause ?"
3dly. They differ in this also : — The love of God is like himself, —
Ezek. xvi. 1-14, etc.; Rom. ix. 11, 12; Tit. iii. 3-6; Deut. vii. 6-8; Matt. xi.
25, 26; John iii. 16.

30 of communion with god the father.
equal, constant, not capable of augmentation or diminution; our love
is like ourselves, — unequal, increasing, waning, growing, declining.
His, like the sun, always the same in its hght, though a cloud may
sometimes interpose; ours, as the moon, hath its enlargements and
straitenings. (1st.) The love of the Father is equal, etc.;1 whom he loves, he
'loves unto the end, and he loves them always alike. " The Strength
of Israel is not a man, that he should repent." On whom he fixes his
love, it is immutable ; it doth not grow to eternity, it is not diminished
at any time. It is an eternal love, that had no beginning, that shall
have no ending; that eannot be heightened by any act of ours, that
cannot be lessened by any thing in us. I say, in itself it is thus;
otherwise, in a twofold regard, it may admit of change : —
[1st] In respect of its fruits. It is, as I said, a fruitful love, a love
of bounty. In reference unto those fruits, it may sometimes be
greater, sometimes less; its communications are various. Who among
the saints finds it not [so] ? What hfe, what hght, what strength, some
times ! and again, how dead, how dark, how weak ! as God is pleased
to let out or to restrain the fruits of his love. All the graces of the
Spirit in us, all sanctified enjoyments whatever, are fruits of his love.
How variously these are dispensed, how differently at sundry seasons
to the same persons, experience will abundantly testify.
[2cWy.] In respect of its discoveries and manifestations. He " sheds
abroad his love in our hearts by the Holy Ghost," Rom. v. 5, — gives
us a sense qf it, manifests it unto us. Now, this is2 various and
changeable, sometimes more, sometimes less; now he shines, anon
hides his face, as it may be for our profit. Our Father will not always
chide, lest we be cast down ; he doth not always smile, lest we be full
and neglect him: but yet, still his love in itself is the same. When
for a little moment he hides his face, yet he gathers us with everlast
ing kindness.
Objection. But you will say, " This comes nigh to that blasphemy,
that God loves his people in their sinning as well as in their strictest
obedience; and, if so, who will care to serve him more, or to walk
with him unto well-pleasing ?"
Answer. There are few truths of Christ which, from some or other,
have not received like entertainment with this. Terms and appella
tions are at the will of every imposer ; things are not at all varied by
them. The love of God in itself is the eternal purpose and act of
his will. This is no more changeable than God himself: if it were,
no flesh could be saved ; but it3 changeth not, and we are not con-
* 1 Sam. xv. 29; Isa. xlvi. 10; Jer. xxxi. 3; Mai. iii. 6; James i. 17; 2 Tim. ii. 19.
' Ps. xxxi. 16, lxvii. 1, cxix. 135, xiii. 1, xxvii. 9, xxx. 7, Ixxxviii. 14; Isa. viii. 17.
• Mal. iii. 6.

of communion with god the father 31
mimed. What then? loves he his- people in their sinning? Yes;
his people, — not their sinning. Alters1 he not his love towards them?
Not the purpose of his will, but the dispensations of his grace. He
¦rebukes them, he chastens them, he hides his 'face from them, he
smites them, he fills them with a sense of [his] indignation; but woe,
woe would it be to lis, should he change in his love, or take away his
kindness from us ! Those very things which seem to be demonstra- .
tions of the change of his affections towards his, -do as clearly proceed
from love as those which seem to be the most genuine issues thereof.
" But will not this encourage to sin?" He never tasted of the love of
God that can seriously make this objection. The doctrine of grace
may be turned into wantonness ; the principle cannot. I shall not
wrong the saints by giving another answer to this objection : Detes
tation of sin in any may well consist with the acceptation of their
persons, and their designation to life eternal.
But now our love to God is ebbing and flowing, waning and in
creasing. We lose our first love, and we grow again in love f — scarce
a day at a stand. What poor creatures are we ! How unlike the
Lord and his love! " Unstable as water, we cannot excel." Now it is,
" Though all men forsake thee, I will not;" anon, " I know not the
man." One day, " I shall never be moved, my hill is so strong;" the
next, " All men are li^rs, I shall perish." When ever was the time,
where ever was the place, that our love was one day equal towards
God? And thus, these agreements and discrepancies do farther describe
that mutual love of the Father and the saints, wherein they hold
communion. Other instances as to the person of the Father I shall
not give, but endeavour to make some improvement of this in the
next chapter.

CHAPTER IV
Inferences on the former doctrine concerning communion with the Father in love.
Having thus discovered the nature of that distinct communion
which we have with the Father, it remaineth that we give some ex
hortations unto it, directions in it, and take some observations from
it:— 1. First, then, this is a duty wherein it is most evident that Chris-
1 Ps. xxxix. 11; Heb. xii. 7, 8; Rev. iii. 19; Isa. viii. 17, Ivii. 17; Job vi. 4; Pa,
vi. 6, xxxviii. 3-5, etc.
» Rev. ii. 4, iii. 2; Eph iii. 16-19.

32 of communion with god the father
tians are but little exercised, — namely, in holding immediate com
munion with the Father in love. Unacquaintedness with our
mercies, our ^privileges, is our sin as well as our trouble. We hearken
not to the voice of the Spirit.1 which is given unto us, " that we may
know the things that are freely bestowed on us of God." This makes
us go heavily, when we might rejoice; and to be weak, where we
might be strong in the Lord. How few of the saints are- experi
mentally acquainted with this privilege of holding immediate com
munion with the Father in love! With what anxious, doubtful
thoughts do they look upon him ! What fears, what questionings
are there, of his good-will and kindness ! At the best, many think
there is no sweetness at all in him towards us, but what is purchased
at the high price of the blood of Jesus. It is true, that alone is the
way of communication; but the free fountain and spring of all is in
the bosom of the Father.3 " Eternal life was with the Father, and is
manifested unto us." Let us, then, —
(1.) Eye the Father as love; look not on him as an always lower
ing father, but as one most3 kind and tender. Let iis look on him
by faith, as one that hath had thoughts of kindness towards us from
everlasting. It is misapprehension of God that makes any run from
him, who have the least breathing wrought in them after him. " They
that know thee will put their trust in thee." Men cannot abide with
God in spiritual meditations. He loseth soul's company by their
want of this insight into his love. They fix their thoughts only on
his terrible majesty, severity, and greatness; and so their spirits are
not endeared. Would a soul continually eye his everlasting tender
ness and compassion, his thoughts of kindness that have been from
of old, his present gracious acceptance, it could not bear an hour's
absence from him; whereas now, perhaps, it cannot watch with him
one hour. Let, then, this be the saints' first notion of the Father, —
as one full of eternal, free love towards them : let their hearts and
thoughts be filled with breaking through all discouragements that
lie in the way. To raise them hereunto, let them consider, —
[1.] Whose love it is. It is the love of him who is in himself all-
sufficient, infinitely satiated with himself and his own glorious excel
lencies and perfections; who hath no need to go forth with his love
unto others, nor to seek an object of it without himself. There
might he rest with delight and complacency to eternity. He is suf-'
ficient unto his own love. He had his Son, also, his eternal4 Wisdom,
to rejoice and delight himself in from all eternity, Prov. viii. 30. .
This might take up and satiate the whole' delight of the Father; but
1 1 Cor. ii. 12. J Z«» trig «v rtfg rit Tlxri_x, xx) iifxtioitn i/tit. — 1 John i. 2.
8 Ps. ciii. 9 ; Mic. vii. 18.
t b'ti ai' ni»Taj>« "Optime in Dei Filium quadrat patris delictus." — Mer. in loc.

OF communion with god the father. 33
he will love his saints also. And it is such a love, as wherein he
seeks not his own satisfaction only, but our good therein also; — tlie
love of a God, the love of a Father, whose proper outgoings are
kindness and bounty.
[2.] What kind of love it is. And it is, —
1st. Eternal. It was fixed on us before the1 foundation of the
world. . Before we were, or had done the least good, then were his
thoughts upon us, — then was his delight in us; — then did the Son re
joice in the thoughts of fulfilling his Father's delight in him, Prov.
viii. 30. Yea, the delight of the Father in the Son, there mentioned,
is not so much his absolute delight in him as the express image of
his person and the brightness of his glory, wherein he might behold
all his own excellencies and perfections; as with respect unto his
love and his delight in the sons of men. So the order of the words
require us to understand it: "I was daily his delight," and, "My
delights were with the sons of men;" — that is, in the thoughts of
kindness and redemption for them : and in that respect, also, was he
his Father's delight. It was from eternity that he laid in his own
bosom a design for our happiness. The very thought of this is
enough to make all that is within us, like the babe in the womb of
Elisabeth, to leap for joy. A sense of it cannot but prostrate our
souls to the lowest abasement of a humble, holy reverence, and make
us rejoice before him with trembling.
2dly. Free. He2 loves us because he will; there was, there is,
nothing in us for which we should be beloved. Did we deserve his
love, it must go less in its valuation. Things of due debt are seldom
the matter of thankfulness; but that which is eternally antecedent to
our being, must needs be absolutely free in its respects to our well-
being. This gives it life and being, is the reason of it, and sets a
price upon it, Rom. ix. 11; Eph. i. 3, 4; Titus iii. 5; James i. 18.
3dly. s Unchangeable. Though we change every day, yet his love
changeth not. Could any kind of provocation turn it away, it had
long since ceased. Its unchangeableness is that which carrieth out
the Father unto that infiniteness of patience and forbearance (with
out which we die, we perish), 2 Pet. iii. 9, which he exerciseth towards
us. And it is, —
4-thly. i Distinguishing. He hath not thus loved all the world:
" Jacob have I loved, but Esau have. I hated." Why should he fix
1 Rom. ix. 11, 12; Actsxv.18; 2 Tim. i. 9, ii. 19 ; Prov. viii. 31 ; Jer. xxxi. 3.
' Matt. xi. 25, 26. " Hoc tanto et tam ineffabili bono, nemo inventus est dignus;
sordet natura sine gratia." — Pros, de lib. Arb. ad Ruff.
3 Mai. iii. 6; James i. 17; Hos. xi. 9.
4 Rom. ix. 12. " Omnia diligit Deus, quae fecit ; et inter ea magis diligit creaturas
rationales, et de illis eas amplius quae sunt membra unigeniti sui. Et multo magis
ipsum unigenitum." — August.
VOL. II. 3

34 OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER
his love on us, and pass by millions from whom wetdiffer not by1
nature,— that he should make us sharers in that, and all the fruits of
it, which most of the great and3 wise men of the world are excluded
from? I name but the heads pf things. Let them enlarge whose
hearts are teuched.
Let, I say, the soul frequently eye the love of the Father, and that
under these considerations, — they are all soul-conquering and en
dearing. (2.) So eye it as to receive it. Unless this be added, all is in vain
as to any communion with God. We do not hold communion with him
in any thing, until it be received by faith. This, then, is that which
I would provoke the saints of God unto, even tos believe this love of
God for themselves and their own part, — believe that such is the heart
of the Father towards them, — accept of his witness herein. His love
is not ours in the sweetness of it until it be so received. Continually,
then, act thoughts of faith on God, as love to thee, — as embracing
thee with the eternal free love before described. When the Lord is,
by his word, presented as such unto thee, let thy mind know it, and
assent that it is so ; and thy will embrace it, in its being so ; and all
thy affections be filled with it. Set thy whole heart to it ; let it be
bound with the cords of this love.4 If the King be bound in the gal
leries with thy love, shouldst thou not be bound in heaven with his?
(3.) Let it have its proper fruit and efficacy upon thy heart, in
return of love to him again. So shall we walk in the hght of God's
countenance, and hold holy communion with our Father all the day
long. Let us not deal unkindly with him, and return him slighting
for his good-will. Let there not be such a heart in us as to deal so
unthankfully with our God.
2. Now, to further us in this duty, and the daily constant practice
of it, I shall add one or two considerations that may be of importance
thereunto; as, —
(1.) It is exceeding acceptable unto God, even our Father, that we
should thus hold communion with him in his love, — that he may be
received into our souls as one full of love, tenderness, and kindness,
towards us. Flesh and blood is apt to have very hard thoughts of
him, — to think he is always angry, yea, implacable ; that it is not
for poor creatures to draw nigh to him; that nothing in the world is
more desirable than never to come into his presence, or, as they say,
where he hath any thing to do. "Who5 among us shall dwell with the
devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?"
say the sinners in Zion. 6 And, " I knew thou wast an austere man,"
saith the evil servant in the gospel. Now, there is not any thing more
1 Eph. ii. 3. 2 Matt. xi. 25, 26; 1 Cor. i. 20. s 1 John iv. 16.
* Cant. vii. 5. 5 Isa. xxxiii. 14. « Luke xix. 21

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER. 35
grievous to the Lord, nor more subservient to the design of Satan
upon the soul, than such thoughts as these. Satan claps his hands
(if I may so say) when he can take up the soul with such thoughts
of God : he hath enough, — all that he doth desire. This hath been
his design and way from the beginning. The1 first blood that mur
derer shed was by this means. He leads our first, parents into hard
thoughts of God: " Hath God said so? hath he threatened you with
death? He knows well enough it will be better with you ;"• — with this
engine did he batter and overthrow all mankind in2 one; and being
mindful of his ancient conquest, he readily useth the same weapons
wherewith then he so successfully contended. Now, it is exceeding
grievous to the Spirit of God to be so slandered in the hearts of those
whom he dearly loves. How doth he expostulate this with Zion !
" What iniquity" have ye seen in me?" saith he; " have I been a
wilderness unto you, or a land of darkness?" 4 " Zion said, The
Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a
woman," etc. The Lord takes nothing worse at the hands of his,
than such hard thoughts of him, knowing full well what fruit this
bitter root is like to bear, — what alienations of heart, — what drawings
back, — what unbelief and tergiversations in our walking with him.
How unwilling is a child to come into the presence of an angry
father ! Consider, then, this in the first place, — receiving of the Father
as he holds out love to the soul, gives him the honour he aims at,
and is exceeding acceptable unto him. He often sets it out in an
eminent manner, that it may be so received: — " He commendeth his
love toward us," Rom. v. 8. " Behold, what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us!" 1 John iii. 1. Whence, then, is this folly?
Men are afraid to have good thoughts of God. They think it a bold
ness to eye God as good, gracious, tender, kind, loving: I speak of
saints; but for the other side, they can judge him hard, austere,
severe, almost implacable, and fierce (the very worst affections of the
very worst of men, and most hated of him, Rom. i. 31 ; 2 Tim. iii. 3),
and think herein they do well. Is not this soul-deceit from Satan?
Was it not his design from the beginning to inject such thoughts of
God? Assure thyself, then, there is nothing more acceptable unto the
Father, than for us to keep up our hearts unto him as the eternal
fountain of all that rich grace which flows out to sinners in the blood
of Jesus. And, —
(2.) This will be exceeding effectual to endear thy soul unto God,
to cause thee to delight in him, and to make thy abode with him.
Many saints have no greater burden ih their lives, than that their
hearts do not come clearly and fully up, constantly to delight and
1 Gen. iii. 5. 2 'Ep' « vextng %/txgrov, Rom. v. 12.
a Jer. ii. 5, 21. * Isa. xl. 27-29, xlix. 15, 16.

36 OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER.
rejoice in God ; — that there is still an indisposedness of spirit unto close
walking with him. What is at the bottom of this distemper? Is it
not their unskilfulness in or neglect of this duty, even of holding
communion with the Father in love? So much as we see of the love
of God, so much shall we dehght in him, and no more. Every other
discovery of God, without this, will but make the soul fly from bim ;
but if the heart be once much taken up with this the eminency of
the Father's love, it cannot choose but be overpowered, conquered,
and endeared unto him. This, if any thing, will work upon us to
make our abode with him. If the love of a father will not make a
child delight in him, what will? Put, then, this to the venture: exer
cise your thoughts upon this very thing, the eternal, free, and fruit
ful love of the Father, and see if your hearts be not wrought upon
to delight in him. I dare boldly say, believers will find it as thriving
a course as ever they pitched on in their lives. Sit down a httle at
the fountain, and you will quickly have a farther discovery of the
sweetness of the streams. You who have run from him, will not be
able, after a while, to keep at a distance for a moment.
Objection 1. But some may say, "Alas ! how shall I hold communion
with the Father in love? I know not at all whether he loves me or
no ; and shall I venture to cast myself upon it ? How if I should not be
accepted? should I not rather perish for my presumption, than find
sweetness in his bosom? God seems to me only as a consuming fire
and everlasting burnings; so that I dread to look up unto him."
Answer. I know not what may be understood by knowing of the
love of God; though it be carried on by spiritual sense and experience,
yet it is received purely by believing. Our knowing of it, is our be
lieving of it as revealed. " We have known and believed the love
that God hath to us. God is love," 1- John iv. 16. This is the as
surance which, at the very entrance of walking with God, thou mayest
have of this love. He who is truth hath said it; and whatever thy
heart says, or Satan says, unless thou wilt take it up on this account,
thou doest thy endeavour to make him a liar who hath spoken it,
1 John v. 10.
Obj. 2. " I can believe that God is love to others, for he hath said
- he is love; but that he will be so to me, I see no ground of persua
sion ; there is no cause, no reason in the world, why he should turn
one thought of love or kindness towards me : and therefore I dare not
cast myself upon it, to hold communion with him in his special love."
Ans. He hath spoken it as particularly to thee as to any one in
the world. And for cause of love, he hath as much to fix it on thee
as on any of the children of men ; that is, none at all without himself.
So that I shall make speedy work with this objection. Never any
one from the foundation of the world, who believed such love in the

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER. 37
Father, and made returns, of love to him again, was deceived ; neither
shall ever any to the world's end be so, in so doing. Thou art, then,
in this, upon a most sure bottom'. If thou believest and receivest the
Father as love, he will infallibly be so to thee, though others may fall
under his severity. But, —
Obj. 3. " I cannot find my heart making returns of love unto God.
Could I find my soul set upon him, I could then believe his soul
delighted in me."
Ans. This is the most preposterous course that possibly thy
thoughts can pitch upon, a most ready way to rob God of his glory.
" Herein is love," saith the Holy Ghost, " not that we loved God, but
that he loved us" first, 1 John iv. 10, 11. Now, thou .wouldst invert
this order, and say, " Herein is love, not that God loved me, but that
I love him first." This is to take, the glory of God from him: that,
whereas he loves us without a cause that is in ourselves, and we have
ah cause in the world to love him, thou wouldst have the contrary,
— namely, that something should be in thee for which God should
love thee, even thy love to him ; and that thou shouldst love God,
before thou knowest any thing lovely in him, — namely, whether he
love thee or no. This is a course of flesh's finding out, that will
never bring glory to God, nor peace to thy own soul. Lay down,
then, thy reasonings ; take up the love of the Father upon a pure act
of believing, and that will open thy soul to let it out unto the Lord
in the communipn of love.
To make yet some farther improvement of this truth so opened
and exhorted unto as before; — it will discover unto us the eminency
and privilege of the saints of God. What low thoughts soever the
sons of men may have of them, it will appear that they have meat to
eat that the world knows not of. They have close communion and
feUowship with the Father. They deal with him in the interchange
of love. Men are generally esteemed according to the company they
keep. It is an honour to stand in the presence of princes, though
but as servants. What honour, then, have all the saints, to stand with
boldness in the presence of the Father, and there to enjoy his bosom
love ! What a blessing did the queen of Sheba pronounce on the
servants of Solomon, who stood before him, and heard his wisdom !
How much more blessed, then, are they who stand continually before
the God of Solomon, hearing his wisdom, enjoying his love ! Whilst
others have their fellowship with Satan and their own lusts, making
provision for them, and receiving perishing refreshments from them,
(" whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose
glory is in their shame^ who mind earthly things,") they have this
sweet communion -with the Father.
Moreover, what a safe and sweet retreat is here for the saints, in

38 OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER
all the scorns, reproaches, scandals, misrepresentations, which they
undergo in the world. When1 a child is abused abroad in the streets
by strangers, he runs with speed to the bosom of his father; there he
makes his complaint, and is comforted. In all the hard2 censures
and tongue-persecutions which the saints meet withal in the streets
of the World, they may run with their moanings unto their Father,
and be comforted. " As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I
comfort you," saith the Lord, Isa. Ixvi. 13. So that the soul may
say, " If I have hatred in the world, I will go where I am sure of
love. Though all others are hard to me, yet my Father is tender and
full of compassion : I will go to him, and satisfy myself in him. Here
I am accounted vile, frowned on, and rejected ; but I have honour
and love with him, whose kindness is better than life itself. There
I shall have all things in the fountain, which others have but in the
drops. There is in my Father's love every thing desirable : there is
the sweetness of all mercies in the abstract itself, and. that fully and
durably." Evidently, then, the saints are the most mistaken men in the
world. If they say,3 " Come and have fellowship with us;" are not
men ready to say, " Why, what are you ? a sorry company of4 sedi
tious, factious persons. Be it known unto you, that we despise your
fellowship. When we intend to leave fellowship with all honest men,
and men of worth, then will we come to you." But, alas ! how are
men mistaken ! Truly their fellowship is with the Father: let men
think of it as they please, they have close, spiritual, heavenly refresh
ings, in the mutual communication of love with the Father himself.
How they are generally misconceived, the apostle declares, 2 Cor.
vi. 8-10, "As deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well
known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as
having nothing, and yet possessing all things." And as it is thus in
general, so in no one thing more than this, that they are looked on as
poor, low, despicable persons, when indeed, they are the only great
and noble personages in the world. Consider the company they keep :
it is with the Father ; — who so glorious ? The merchandise they trade
in, it is love; — what so precious? Doubtless they are the excellent on
the earth, Ps. xvi. 3.
Farther; this will discover a main difference between the saints
and empty professors: — As to the performance of duties, and so the
enjoyment of outward privileges, fruitless professors often walk hand
in hand with them ; but now come to their secret retirements, and
1 Isa. xxvi. 20.
2 "E/torxty/tait o-sigav tXaGov, Heb. xi. 36. 'Ovith^/toTg Sixrgil^o/ntot, Heb. X. 33.
8 1 John i. 3. 4 Acts xvii. 6, xxviii. 22.

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD THE FATHER. 39
what a difference is there ! There the saints hold communion with
God: hypocrites, for the most part, with the world and their own
lusts ; — with them they converse and communicate ; they hearken what
they will say to them, and make provision for them, when the saints
are sweetly wrapt up in the bosom of their Father's love. It is often
times even almost impossible that believers should, in outward ap
pearance, go beyond them who have very rotten hearts: but this meat
they have, which others know not of; this refreshment in the banquet
ing house, wherein others have no share ; — in the multitude of their
thoughts, the comforts of God their Father refresh their souls.
Now, then (to draw towards a close of this discourse), if these
things be so, " what manner of men ought we to be, in all manner of
holy conversation?" Even "our God is a consuming fire." What
communion is there between light and darkness ? Shall sin and lust
dwell in those thoughts which receive in and carry out love from
and unto the Father? HoUness becometh his presence forever. An
unclean spirit cannot draw nigh unto him; — an unholy heart can
make no abode with him. A lewd person will not desire to hold fel
lowship with a sober man ; and will a man of vain and foolish ima
ginations hold communion and dwell with the most holy God?
There is not any consideration of this love but is a powerful motive
unto hoUness, and leads thereunto. Ephraim says, " What have I
to do any more with idols ?" when in God he finds salvation. Com
munion with the Father is wholly inconsistent with "loose walking.
" If we say that we have feUowship with him, and walk in darkness,
we lie, and do not the truth," 1 John i. 6. " He that saith, I know
him" (I have communion with him), "and keepeth not bis command
ments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him," chap. ii. 4. The most
specious and glorious pretence made to an acquaintance with the
Father, without holiness and obedience to his commandments, serves
only to prove the pretenders to be liars. The love of the world and
of the Father dweU not together.
And if this be so (to shut up aU), how many that go under the
name of Christians, come short of the truth ef it ! How unacquainted
are the generality of professors with the mystery of this communion,
and the fruits of it ! Do not many very evidently hold communion
with their lusts and with the world, and yet would be thought to
have a portion and inheritance among them that are sanctified ?
They have neither new name nor white stone, and yet would be called
the people of the Most High. May it not be said of many of them,
rather, that God is not in aU their thoughts, than that they have com
munion with him ? The Lord open the eyes of men, that they may
see and know that walking with God is a matter not of form, but
power ! And so far of pecuUar communion with the Father, in the in-

40 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
stance of love which we have insisted on. " He is also faithful wJa©
hath called us to the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord;"
— of which in the next place.

PART II.
CHAPTER I

Of the fellowship which the saints have with Jesus Christ the Son of God —
That they have such a fellowship proved, 1 Cor. i. 9 : Rev. iii. 20 ; Cant.
ii. 1-7 opened; also Prov. ix. 1-5.
Of that distinct communion which we have with the person of the
Father we have treated in the foregoing chapters ; we now proceed
to the consideration of that which we have with his Son, Jesus Christ
our Lord. Now the fellowship we have with the second person, is
with him as Mediator, — in that office whereunto, by dispensation, he
submitted himself for our sakes; being "made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we
might receive the adoption of sons," Gal. iv. 4, 5. And herein I
shall do these two things : — I. Declare that we have such fellowship
with the Son of God. II. Show wherein that feUowship or commu
nion doth consist: —
I. For the first, I shall only produce some few places of Scripture
to confirm it, that it is so : — 1 Cor. i. 9, " God is faithful, by whom
ye were caUed unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord."
This is that whereunto all the saints are called, and wherein, by the
faithfulness of God, they shaU be preserved, even feUowship with Jesus
Christ our Lord. We are caUed of God the Father, as the Father,
in pursuit of his love, to communion with the Son, as our Lord.
Rev. iu. 20, " Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man
hear my voice, and open the door, I wiU come in to him, and will
sup with him, and he with me."1 Certainly this is fellowship, or I
know not what is. Christ will sup with believers: he refreshes him
self with his own graces in them, by his Spirit bestowed on them.
The Lord Christ is exceedingly delighted in tasting of the sweet
fruits of the Spirit in the saints. Hence Ls that prayer of the spouse
that she may have something for his entertainment when he cometh
to her, Cant. iv. 16, " Awake, 0 north wind; and come, thou south;
blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my
1 John xiv. 23.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 41
Beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits," The souls
of the saints are the garden of Jesus Christ, the good ground, Heb.
vi. 7; — a garden for delight; he rejoices in them; "his delights
are with the sons of men," Prov. vui. '31; and he "rejoices over
them," Zeph. ui. 17; — and a garden for fruit, yea, pleasant fruit; so
he describes it, Cant. iv. 12-14, "A garden inclosed is my sister, my
spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard
of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,
spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of
frankincense ; myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices." Whatever is
sweet and deUcious for taste, whatever savoury and odoriferous, what
ever is useful and medicinal, is in this garden. There is all manner
of spiritual refreshments, of all kinds whatever, in the souls of the
saints, for the Lord Jesus. On this account is the spouse so earnest
in the prayer mentioned for an increase of these things, that her Be
loved may sup with her, as he hath promised. " Awake, 0 north
wind," etc.; — "0 that the breathings and workings of the Spirit of
all grace might stir up aU his gifts and graces in me, that the Lord
Jesus, the beloved of my soul, may have meet and acceptable enter
tainment from me!" God complains of want of fruit in his vineyard,
Isa. v. 2 ; Hos. x. 1. Want of good food for Christ's entertainment
is that the spouse feared, and labours to prevent. A barren heart is
not fit to receive him. And the delight he takes in the fruit of the
Spirit is unspeakable. This he expresses at large, Cant. v. 1, "Iam
come," saith he; "I have eaten, I am refreshed." He calls it &HiD "HS
"The fruit of his sweetnesses ;" or most pleasant to him. Moreover, as
Christ sups with his saints, so he hath promised they shall sup with
him, to complete that feUowship they have with him. Christ pro
vides for their entertainment in a most eminent manner. There are
beasts killed, and wine is mingled, and a table furnished, Prov. ix. 2.
He caUs the spiritual dainties that he hath for them a "feast," a "wed
ding," 1<£a feast of fat things, wine on the lees," etc. The fatted
calf is lulled for their entertainment. Such is the communion, and
such is the mutual entertainment of Christ and his saints in that
communion. Cant, il 1-7, " I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
As the lUy among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the
apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the
sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit
was sweet to my taste," etc.
In the two first verses you have the description that Christ gives,
first of himself, then of his church. Of himself, verse I ; that is, what
he is to his spouse : "Iam the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the
1 Isa. xxv. 6; Matt. xxii. 8; Rev. xix. 7.

42 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
valleya" The Lord^Christ is, in the Scripture, compared to aU things
of eminency in the whole creation. He is in the heavens the sun,
and the bright morning star: as the lion among the beasts, the lion
of the tribe of Judah. Among the flowers of the field, here he is the
rose and the lily. The two eminencies of flowers, sweetness of savour
and beauty of colour, are divided between these. The rose for sweet
ness, and the hly for beauty (" Solomon in aU his glory was not arrayed
like one of these"), have the pre-eminence. Farther, he is " the rose
of Sharon," a fruitful plain, where the choicest herds were fed,
1 Chron. xxvu. 29 ; so eminent, that it is promised to the church that
there shall be given unto her the "excellency of Sharon, Isa. xxxv. 2.
This fruitful place, doubtless, brought forth the most precious roses.
Christ, in the savour of his love, and in his righteousness (which is as
the garment wherein Jacob received his blessing, giving forth a smell
as the smell of a pleasant field, Gen. xxvii 271, is as this excellent
rose, to draw and allure the hearts of his saints unto him. As God
smeUed a sweet savour from the blood of his atonement, Eph. v. 2;
so from the graces wherewith for them he is anointed, his saints re
ceive a refreshing, cherishing savour, Cant, i 3. A sweet savour ex
presses that which is acceptable and delightful, Gen. viii 21. He is
also "the Uly of the valleys ; " that of all flowers is the most eminent in
beauty, Matt. vi. 29. Most desirable is he, for the comeliness and per
fection of his person; incomparably fairer than the chUdren of men:
of which afterward. He, then, being thus unto (hem (abundantly
satiating aU their spiritual senses) their refreshment, their ornament,
their delight, their glory; in the next verse he tells us what they are
to him : " As the hly among thorns, so is my beloved among the
daughters." That Christ and his church are likened unto and termed
the same thing (as here the Uly), is, as from their union by the in
dweUing of the same Spirit, so from that Conformity and likeness that
is between them, and whereunto the saints are appointed. Now she
is a Uly, very beautiful unto Christ; " as the lUy among thorns:" —
1. By the way of eminency; as the lUy excelleth the thorns, so do
the saints all others whatever, in the eye of Christ. Let comparison
be made, so wiU it be found to be. And,— 2. By the way of trial;
the residue of the world being " pricking briers and grieving thorns
to the house of Israel," Ezek. xxviii. 24. " The best of them is as a
brier, the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge," Mic. vu. 4. And
thus are they among the daughters, — even the most eminent collec
tions of the most improved professors, that are no more but so. There
cannot be in any greater comparison, a greater exaltation of the ex-
" Mai. iv. 2; Rev. xii. 1; Luke i. 78, 'AtxrtXh ilS-4-ovg- Numb. xxiv. 17; 2 Pet.
i. 19; Rev. xxii. 16; Gen. xlix. 9; Mic. v. 8; Rev. v. 5.
* Isa. xxxiii. 9, lxv.- 10. * Rom. viii. 29.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JES IIS CHRIST. 43
ceUency of any thing. So, then, is Christ to them Indeed, verse 1 ;
so are they in his esteem, and indeed, verse 2. How he is in their
esteem and indeed, we have, verse 3.
" As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved
among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste." To carry on this intercourse,
the spouse begins to speak her thoughts of, and to show her delight
in, the Lord Christ; and as he compares her to the lily among the
thorns, so she him to the apple-tree among the trees of the wood.
And she adds this reason of it, even because he hath the two emi
nent things of trees, which the residue of them have not: — 1. Fruit
for fo<5d; 2. Shade for refreshment. Of the ene she eateth* under
the other she resteth; both with great delight. All other sons, either
angels, the sons of God by creation, Job i 6, xxxviii. 7, or the sons
of Adam, — the best of his offspring, the leaders of those companies
which, verse 2, are called daughters, or sons of the old creation, the
top branches of all its desirable things, — are to an hungry, weary soul
(such alone seek for shade and fruit) but as the fruitless, leafless trees
of the forest, which will yield them neither food nor refreshment.
" In Christ," saith she, " there is fruit, fruit sweet to the taste ; yea,
'his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed,' " John vi. 55.
"Moreover, he hath brought forth that everlasting righteousness which
wUl abundantly satisfy any hungry soul, after it hath gone to many
a barren tree for food, and hath found none. Besides, he aboundeth
in precious and pleasant graces, whereof I may xeat; yea, he calls me
to do so, and that abundantly." These are the fruits that Christ
beareth. . They speak of a tree that bringeth forth all things need
ful for life, in food and raiment. . Christ is that tree of life, which
hath brought forth aU things that are needful unto life eternal. In
him is that righteousness which we ahunger after; — in him is that
water of life, which whoso 3 drinketh of shaU thirst no more. Oh,
how sweet are the fruits of Christ's mediation to the faith of his saints !
He that can find no relief in mercy, pardon, grace, acceptation with
God, holiness, sanctification, etc., is an utter stranger to these things
(4wine on the lees) that are prepared for believers. Also, he hath
shades for refreshment and shelter; — shelter from wrath without, and
refreshment because of weariness from within. The first use of the
B shade is to keep us from the heat of the sun, as did Jonah's gourd.
When the heat of wrath is ready to scorch the soul, Christ, inter
posing, bears it aU. Under the shadow of his wings we sit down con
stantly, quietly, safely, putting our trust in him; and all this with
great delight. Yea, who can express the joy of a soul safe shadowed
1 Cant. v. 1. » Matt. v. 6. ' John iv. 14. * Isa. xxv. 6; Prov. ix. 2.
s Jonah iv. 6; Isa. xxv. 4, xxxii. 2; 2 Cor. v. 21; Gal. iii. 13; Mai. iv. 2.

44 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
from wrath under the covert of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus!
There is also refreshment in a shade from weariness. He is " as the
shadow of a great rock in a weary land," Isa. xxxii. 2. From the
power of corruptions, trouble of temptations, distress of persecutions,
there is in him quiet, rest, and repose, Matt. xi. 27, 28.
Having thus mutually described each other, and so made it mani
fest that they cannot but be delighted in fellowship and communion,
in the next verses that communion of theirs is at large set forth
and described. I shall briefly observe four things therein: — (1.) Sweet
ness. (2.) Delight. (3.) Safety. (4.) Comfort.
(1.) Sweetness: "He brought me to the banqueting-h'ouse, " or
" house of wine." It is aU set forth under expressions of the greatest
sweetness and most delicious refreshment, — flagons, apples, wine, etc.
"He entertains me," saith the spouse, "as some great personage.'
Great personages, at great entertainments, are had into the banquet-
ing-house, — the house of wine and dainties. These are the prepara
tions of grace and mercy, — love, kindness, supplies revealed in the
gospel, declared in the assemblies of the saints, exhibited by the Spirit.
This " love is better than wine," Cant, i 2 ; it is " not meat and
drink, but righteousness, and1 peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."
Gospel dainties are sweet refreshments; whether these houses of wine
be the Scriptures, the gospel, or the ordinances dispensed in the
assembhes of the saints, or any emment and signal manifestations of
special love (as banqueting is not every day's work, nor used at ordi
nary entertainments), it is all one. Wine, that cheereth the heart of
man, that makes him forget his misery, Prov. xxxi. 6, 7, that gives
him a cheerful look and countenance, Gen. xlix. 12, is that which is
promised. The grace exhibited by Christ in his ordinances is re
freshing, strengthening, comforting, and fuU of sweetness to the souls
of the saints. Woe be to such fuU souls as loathe these honey-combs!
But thus Christ makes aU his assemblies to be banqueting-houses ;
and there he gives his saints entertainment.
(2.) Delight. The spouse is quite ravished with the sweetness of
this entertainment, finding love, and care, and kindness, bestowed by
Christ in the assembhes of the saints. Hence she cries out, verse 5,
" Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples; for I am sick of
love." Upon the discovery of the excellency and sweetness of Christ
in the banqueting-house, the soul is instantly overpowered, and cries
out to be made partaker of the fulness of it. She is " sick of love :"
not (as some suppose) fainting for want of a sense of love, under the
apprehension of wrath ; but made sick and faint, even overcome, with
the mighty actings of that divine affection, after she had once tasted
of the sweetness of Christ in the banqueting-house. Her desire de-
1 Rom. xiv. 17; John vii. 37; Prov. xxvii. 7.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 45 -
ferred, makes her heart sick ; therefore she cries, " Stay me," etc. ; — " I
have seen a glimpse of the ' King in his beauty,' — tasted of the fruit
of his righteousness; my soul melteth in longing after him. Oh!
support and sustain my spirit with his presence in his ordinances,—
those ' flagons and apples of his banqueting-house,' — or I shall quite
sink and faint! Oh, what hast thou done, blessed Jesus! I have seen
thee, and my soul is become as the chariots of Ammi-nadib. Let me
have something from thee to support me, or I die." When a person is
fainting on any occasion, these two things are to be done : — strength
is to be used to support him, that he sink not to the ground ; and
comfortable things are to be applied, to refresh his spirits. These
two the soul, overpowered and fainting with the force of its own
love, (raised by a sense of Christ's,) prayeth for. It would have
strengthening grace to support it in that condition, that it may
be able to attend its duty; and consolations of the Holy Ghost, to
content, revive, and satiate it, untU it come to a full enjoyment
of Christ. And thus sweetly and with delight is this communion
carried on.
(3.) Safety: " His banner over me was love," verse 4. The ban
ner is an emblem of safety and protection, — a sign of the presence of
an host. Persons belonging to an army do encamp under their
banner in security. So did the chUdren of Israel in the wilderness;
every' tribe kept their camps under their own standard. It is also a
token of success and victory, Ps. xx. 5. Christ hath a banner for his
saints ; and that is love. All their protection is from his love ; and
they shall have aU the protection his love can give them. This safe
guards them from hell, death, — all their enemies. Whatever presses
on them, it must pass through the banner of the love of the Lord
Jesus. They have, then, great spiritual safety ; which is another orna
ment or excellency of their communion with him.
(4.) Supportment and consolation, verse 6, " His left hand is
under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me." Christ here
hath the posture of a most tender friend towards any one in sickness
and sadness. The soul faints with love, — spiritual longings after the
enjoyment of his presence ; and Christ comes in with his embraces.
He nourisheth and cherisheth his church, Eph. v. 29 ; Isa. Ixiii. 9.
Now, " the hand under the head," is supportment, sustaining grace,
in pressures and difficulties; and "the hand that doth embrace," the
hand upon the heart, is joy and consolation; — in both, Christ re
joicing, as the " bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride," Isa. lxii. 5.
Now, thus to lie in the arms of Christ's love, under a perpetual
influence of supportment and refreshment, is certainly to hold com
munion with him. And hereupon, verse 7, the spouse is most ear
nest for the continuance of his fellowship, charging all so to demean

46 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
themselves, that her Beloved be not disquieted, or provoked to de
part. In brief, this whole book is taken up in the description of the com
munion that is between the Lord Christ and his saints; and there
fore, it is very needless to take from thence any more particular in
stances thereof.
I shaU only add that of Prov. ix. 1-5, " Wisdom hath buUded her
house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars; she hath kiUed her beasts;
she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table. She
hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of
thevcity, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that
wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread, and
drink of the wine which I have mingled."
The Lord Christ, the eternal Wisdom of the Father, and who of
God is made unto us wisdom, erects a spiritual house, wherein he
makes provision for the entertainment of those guests whom he, so
freely invites. His church is the house which he hath built on a
perfect number of pUlars, that it might have a stable foundation : his
slain beasts and nlingled wine, wherewith his table is furnished, are
those spiritual fat things of the gospel, which he hath prepared for
those that come in upon his invitation. Surely, to eat of this bread,
and drink of this wine, which he hath so graciously prepared, is "to
hold fellowship with him ; for in what ways or things is there nearer
communion than in such?
I might farther evince this truth, by a consideration of aU the re
lations wherein Christ and his saints do stand; which necessarily
require that there be a communion between them, if we do suppose
they are faithful in those relations : but this is commonly treated on,
and something wUl be spoken to it in one signal instance afterward.

CHAPTER II.
What it is wherein we have peculiar fellowship with the Lord Christ — This is
in grace— This proved, John i. 14, 16, 17; 2 Cor. xiii. 14; 2 Thess. iii. 17, 18
— Grace of various acceptations — Personal grace in Christ proposed to con
sideration — The grace of Christ as Mediator intended, Ps. xiv. 2  Cant. v. 10,
Christ, how white and ruddy— His fitness to save, from the grace of union—
His fulness to save — His suitableness to endear — These considerations im
proved.
II. Having manifested that the saints held peculiar fellcwship with
the Lord Jesus, it nextly follows that we show wherein it is that they
have this pecuUar communion with him.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 47
Now, this is in grace. This is everywhere ascribed to him by the
way of eminency. John i 14, " He dwelt among us, full of grace
and truth ;" — grace in the truth and substance of it.1 All that went
before was but typical and in representation; in the truth and sub
stance it comes only by Christ. " Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ," versel7; " and of his fulness have aU we received, and grace
for grace," versel6; — that is, we have communion withjhim in grace;
we receive from him aU manner of grace whatever; and therein have
we feUowship with him.
So likewise in that apostolical benediction, wherein the communi
cation of spiritual blessings from the several persons unto the saints is
so exactly distinguished ; it is grace that is ascribed to our Lord Jesus
Christ, 2 Cor. xiii. 14, ''The grace of the Lord Jesus Chri'st, and the
love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all."
Yea, Paul is so delighted with .this, that he makes it his motto,
and the token whereby he would have his epistles known, 2 Thess.
Ui. 17, 18, " The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which
is the token in every epistle : so I write. The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all." Yea, he makes these two, " Grace
be with you," and, " The Lord Jesus be with you," to be equivalent
expressions; for whereas he affirmed the one to be the token in all
his'epistles, yet sometimes he useth the one only, sometimes the other
of these, and sometimes puts them both together. This, then, is
that which we are peculiarly to eye in the Lord Jesus, to receive it
from him, even grace, gospel-grace, revealed in or exhibited by the
gospel. He is the head-stone in the building of the temple of God,
to whom " Grace, grace," is to be cried, Zech. iv. 7.
Grace is a word of various acceptations. In its most eminent sig
nifications it may be referred unto one of these three heads : —
1. Grace ot personal presence and comeliness. 2So we say, "A grace
ful and comely person," either from himself or his ornaments. This
in Christ (upon the matter) is the subject of near one-half of the book
of Canticles; it is also mentioned, Ps. xiv. 2, " Thou art fairer than
the children of men ; grace is poured into thy lips." And unto this
first head, in respect of Christ, do I refer also that acceptation of
grace which, in respect of us, I fix ih the third place. Those incon
ceivable gifts and fruits of the Spirit which were bestowed on him,
and brought forth in him, concur to his personal excellency; as wiU
afterward appear.
2. Grace oi free favour and acceptance. s" By this grace we are
1 Acts xv. 11; Rom. xvi. 24; 1 Cor. xvi. 23; 2 Cor. xiii. 14; Gal. vi. 18; Eph.
vi. 24. 8 Prov. i. 9, iii. 22, 34; Cant. iii. 6-11, v. 9-16, etc.
3 Ezra ix. 8; Acts iv. 33; Luke ii. 40; Esther ii. 17; Ps. lxxxiv. 11 ; Eph. ii 6;
Acts xv. 40, xviii. 27; Rom. i. 7, iv. 4, 16, v. 2, 20, xi. 5, 6; 2 Thess. ii 16; Tit.
iii. 7; Rev. i. 4, etc.

48 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
saved;" that is, the free favour and gracious acceptation of God in
Christ. , In this sense is it used in that frequent expression, " If I
have found grace in thy sight;" that is, if I be freely and favourably
accepted before thee. So he " giveth grace" (that is, favour) " unto
the humble," James iv. 6; Gen. xxxix. 21, xii. 37; Acts vii. 10;
1 Sam. il 26; 2 Kings xxv. 27, etc.
3. The fruits of ihe Spirit, sanctifying and renewing our natures,
enabling unto good, and preventing from evU, are so termed. Thus
the Lord tells Paul, "his grace was sufficient for him; "that is, the
assistance against temptation which he afforded him, Col. iii: 16;
2 Cor. viii 6, 7; Heb. xu. 28.
These two latter, as relating unto Christ in respect of us who receive
them, I call purchased grace, being indeed purchased by him for us;
and our communion with him therein is termed a " fellowship in his
sufferings, and the power of his resurrection," Phil. Ui. 10.
1. Let us begin with 'the first, which I call personal grace; and
concerning that do these two things: — (1.) Show what it is, and
wherein it consisteth; I mean the personal grace of Christ. And, —
(2.) Declare how the saints hold immediate communion with him
therein. ' (1.) To the handling of the first, I shaU only premise this observa
tion: — It is Christ as mediator of whom we speak; and therefore,
by the " grace of his person," I understand not, —
[1.] The glorious excellencies of his Deity considered in itself,
abstracting from the office which for us, as God and man, he under
took. [2.] Nor the outward appearance of his human nature, neither
when he conversed here on earth, bearing our infirmities (whereof, by
reason of the charge that was laid upon him, the prophet gives quite
another character, Isa. hi. 1 4), concerning which some of the ancients
were very poetical in their expressions ; nor yet as now exalted in
glory; — a vain imagination whereof makes many bear, a false, a cor
rupted respect unto Christ, even upon carnal apprehensions of the
mighty exaltation of the human nature ; which is but " to know Christ
after the flesh," 2 Cor. v. 16, a mischief much improved by the abomi
nation of fooUsh imagery. But this is that which I intend, — the graces
of the person of Christ as he is vested with the office of mediation,
— his spiritual eminency, comeliness, and beauty, as appointed and
anointed by the Father unto the great work of bringing home all
his elect unto his bosom.
Now, in this respect the Scripture describes him as exceeding ex
cellent, comely, and desirable, — far above comparison with the chiefest,
choicest created good, or any endearment imaginable.
Ps. xiv. 2, " Thou art fairer than the children of men : grace is

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 49
poured into thy lips." JHe is, beyond comparison, more beautiful
and gracious than any here below, — C^'tC, (japhiaphitha); the word is
doubled, to increase its significancy, and to exalt its subject beyond
all comparison. KG?:' „D BH» RrPB_ vd?Q TiB1B>, says the Chaldee
paraphrast : " Thy fairness, 0 king Messiah, is more excellent than
the sons of men." " Pulcher admodum pras filiis hominum ;" — exceed
ing desirable. Inward beauty and glory is here expressed by that of
outward shape, form, and appearance;2 because that was so much
esteemed in those who were to rule or govern. Isa. iv. 2, the prophet,
terming of him "The branch of theLord," and "The fruit of the earth,"
affirms that he shall be "beautiful and glorious, excellent and comely;"
" for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," Col. U. 9.
Cant. v. 9, the spouse is inquired of as to this very thing, even
concerning the personal excellencies of the Lord Christ, her beloved :
" What is thy Beloved" (say the daughters of Jerusalem) " more than
another beloved, 0 thou fairest among women? what is thy Beloved
more than another beloved ?" and she returns this _swer, verse 10,
• " My Beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand;"
and so proceedeth to a particular description of him by his excellencies
to the end of the chapter, and there concludeth that " he is altogether
lovely," verse 1 6 ; whereof at large afterward. Particularly, he is here
affirmed to be "white and ruddy" a due mixture of which colours com
poses the most beautiful complexion.
1st. He is white in the glory of his Deity, and ruddy in the pre-
ciousness of his humanity. " His teeth are white with mUk, and his
eyes are red with wine," Gen. xlix. 12. Whiteness (if I may so say)
is the complexion of glory. In that appearance of the Most High, the
" Ancient of days," Dan. vii. 9,, it is said, " His garment was white as
snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool;" — and of Christ in
his transfiguration, when he had on him a mighty lustre of the Deity,
"His face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light,"
Matt. xvii. 2; which, in the phrase of another evangelist, is, "White
as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them," Mark ix. 3. It
was a divine, heavenly, surpassing glory that was upon him, Rev. i 14.
Hence the angels and glorified saints, that always behold him, and
are fully translated into the image of the same glory, are still said to
be in white robes.3 His whiteness is his Deity, and the glory thereof.
1 Isa. xi. 1; Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15; Zech. iii. 8, vi. 12.
2 'ilg »Sii xxXis orxv i__\u vovv o-if^otx, irfurov fth iTiog &_m rv_xn!iog. — Porphyr. in
Isag. Inde Suetonius deDomitiano. "Commendaii se verecundiS oris adeo sentiebat,
ut apud senatum sic quondam jactaverit; usque adhuc certe animum meum pro-
bastis et vultum."— Sueton. Domit., cap. xviii. "Forma? elegantia in Rege laudatur,
non quod per se decor oris niagni aestimari debeat, sed quia in ipso vultu srepe relu-
ceat generosa indoles." — Calvin, in loc.
3 Rev. iii. 4, 5, vi. 11, vii. 9, 13, xix. 14.
VOL. II. 4

50 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
And on this account the Chaldee parapnrast ascribes this whole passage
unto God. " They say," saith he, " to the house of Israel, ' Who is
the God whom thou wilt serve ?' etc. Then began the congregation
of Israel to declare the praises of the Ruler of the world, and said, ' I
will serve that God who is clothed in a garment white as snow, the
splendour of the glory of whose countenance is as fire." He is also
ruddy in the beauty of his humanity. Man was called Adam, from
the red earth whereof he was made The word here1 used points
him out as the second Adam, partaker of flesh and blood, because
the children also partook of the same, Heb. iL' 14. The beauty and
comeliness of the Lord Jesus in the union of both these in one person,
shall afterward be declared.
2dly. He is white in the beauty of his innocency and honness, and
ruddy in the blood of his oblation. Whiteness is the badge of inno
cency and holiness. It is said of the Nazarites, for their typical hoU
ness, " They were purer than snow, they were whiter than milk," Lam.
iv. 7. And the prophet shows us that scarlet, red, and crimson, are
the colours of sin and guilt; whiteness of innocency,3 Isa. i. 18. Our •
Beloved was "a Lamb without blemish and without spot," 1 Pet. i 19.
" He did no sin, neither was gufle found in his mouth," 1 Pet. ii. 22.
He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners," Heb. vu. 26 ;
as afterward will appear. And yet he who was so white in his inno
cency, was made ruddy in his own blood ; and that two ways : — Natu
rally, in the pouring out of his blood, his precious blood, in that
agony of his soul when thick drops of blood trickled to the ground,
Luke xxii. 44 ; as also when the whips and thorns, naUs and spears,
poured it out abundantly : " There came forth blood and water," John
xix. 34. He was ruddy by being drenched all over in his own blood.
And morally, by the imputation of sin, whose colour is red and crim
son. " God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin," 2 Cor.
v. 21. He who was white, became ruddy for our sakes, pouring out
his blood an oblation for sin. This also renders him graceful: by
his whiteness he fulfilled the law ; by his redness he satisfied justice.
" This is our Beloved, 0 ye daughters of Jerusalem."
3dly. His endearing excellency in the administration of his king
dom is hereby also expressed.3 He is white in love and mercy unto
his own; red with justice and revenge towards his enemies, Isa.
Ixiii. 3; Rev. xix. 13.
There are three things in general wnerein this personal excellency
1 oi-si lis ¦>-*! Cant. v. 10.
2 " Alii candidum exponunt esse puris et probis, rubrum et cruentnm reprobis
ad eos puniendos ut Isaia, cap. Ixiii. dicitur, "-rtatt. aix sVto Cur rubent vesti-
menla tua? quod nostri minus recte de Christi passione exponunt." — Mercer, in loc.
3 Rev. vi. 2-

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 61
and grace of the Lord Christ doth consist: — (1st.) His fitness to save,
from the grace of union, and the proper necessary effects thereof.
(-dly.) His fulness to save, from the grace of communion; or the free
consequences of the grace of union. (3dly.) His excellency to endear.
from his complete suitableness to aU the wants of the souls of men : —
(1st.) His fitness to save, — his being Sxavbg, a fit Saviour, suited
to the work; and this, I say, is from his grace of union. The uniting
of the natures of God and man in one person made him fit to be a
Saviour to the uttermost. He lays his hand upon God, by partaking
of his nature, Zech. xhi. 7 ; and he lays his hand upon us, by being
partaker of our nature, Heb. u. 14, 16: and so becomes a days-man,
or umpire between both. By this means he fills up all the distance
that was made by sin between God and us; and we who were far off
are made nigh in him. Upon this account it was' that he had room
enough in his breast to receive, and power enough in his spirit to bear,
all the wrath that was prepared for us. Sin was infinite only in re
spect of the object; and punishment was infinite in respect of the
subject. This ariseth from his union.
Union is the conjunction of the two natures of God and man in
one person, John i 14; Isa. ix. 6; Rom. i. 3, ix. 5. The necessary
consequences whereof are, —
[1st] The. subsistence of the human nature in the person of the
Son of God, having no subsistence of its own, Luke i 35 ; 1 Tim.
iii. 16.
[2dZy.] Koivaivla thbiiLarm, — that communication of attributes in
the person, whereby the properties of either nature are promiscuously
spoken of the person of Christ, under what name soever, of God or
man, he be spoken of, Acts xx. 28, Ui. 21.
[3dly.] The execution of his office of mediation in his single person,
in respect of both natures: wherein is considerable, 6 hipywv, — the
agent, Christ himself, God and man. He is the principium quo,
svspyrjTixbv, — the principle that gives Ufe and efficacy to the whole
work ; and then, 2dly, Tho principium quod, — that which operates,
which is both natures distinctly considered. 3dly. The kvipyua, or
dpuarr/.ri rrjs'<pvssais xlvneig, — the effectual working itself of each nature.
And, lastly, the iv'epyn/J-a, or avoriktepa,- — the effect produced, which
ariseth from all, and relates to them aU: so resolving the exceUency
I speak of into his personal union.
(2dly.) His fulness to save, from the grace of communion or the
effects of his union, which are free ; and consequences of it, which is
aU the furniture that he received from the Father by the unction of
the Spirit, for the work of our salvation : " He is able also to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by him," Heb. vii. 25 ;
having all fulness unto this end communicated unto him : " for it

52 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell," Col. i. 19;
and he received not " the Spirit by measure," John iU. 34. And from
this fulness he makes out a suitable supply Unto all that are his;
" grace for grace," John i. 16. Had it been given to him by measure,
' we had exhausted it.
(3dly.) His excellency to endear, from his complete suitableness to
all the wants of the souls of men. There is no man whatever, that
hath any want in reference unto the things of God, but Christ wUl
be unto him that which he wants : I speak of those who are given
him of his Father. Is he dead? Christ is life. Is he weak? Christ
is the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Hath he the sense of
guilt upon him? Christ is complete righteousness, — "The. Lord
our Righteousness." Many poor creatures are sensible of their wants,
but know not where their remedy lies. Indeed, whether it be Ufe
or light, power or joy, aU is wrapped up in him.
This, then, for the present, may suffice in general to be spoken of
the personal grace of the Lord Christ : — He hath a fitness to save,
having pity and ability, tenderness and power, to carry on that work
to the uttermost; and a fulness to save, of redemption and sanctifi
cation, of righteousness and the Spirit ; and a suitableness to the wants
of aU o_ souls : whereby he becomes exceedingly desirable, yea, alto
gether lovely; as afterward will appear in particular. And as to this,
in the first place, the saints have distinct feUowship with the Lord
Christ ; the manner whereof shaU be declared in the ensuing chapter.
Only, from this entrance that hath been made into the description
of him with whom the saints have communion, some motives might
be taken to stir us up thereunto; as also considerations to lay open
the nakedness and insufficiency of all other ways and things unto
which men engage their thoughts and desires, something may be
now proposed. The daughters of Jerusalem, ordinary, common pro
fessors, having heard the spouse describing her Beloved, Cant. v. 10-16,
etc., instantly are stirred up to seek him together with her; chap.
vi. .1, " Whither is thy Beloved turned aside? that we may seek him
with thee." What Paul says of them that crucified him, may be
spoken of all that reject him, or refuse communion with him : " Had
they known him, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;" —
Did men know him, were they acquainted in any measure with him,
they would not so reject the Lord of glory. Himself caUs them "sim
ple ones," "fools," and "scorners," that despise his gracious invitation,
Prov. i. 22. There are none who despise Christ," but only they that
know him not ; whbse eyes the god of this World hath blinded, that
they should not beheld his glory. The souls of men do naturally seek
something to rest and repose themselves upon, — something to satiate
1 Col. iii. 4; 1 Cor. i. 24, 30; Jer. xxiii. 6.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 53
and delight themselves withal, with which they [may] hold commu
nion ; and there are two ways whereby men proceed in the pursuit of
what they so aim at. Some set before them some certain end, — per
haps pleasure, profit, or, in religion itself, acceptance with God ; others
seek after some end, but without any certainty, pleasing themselves
now with one path, now with another, with various thoughts and
ways, like them, Isa. Ivii. 10, — because something comes in by the life
of the hand, they give not over though weary. In what condition
soever you may be (either in greediness pursuing some certain end,
be it secular or religious ; or wandering away in your own imagina
tions, wearying- yourselves in the largeness of your ways), compare a
little what you aim at, or what you do, with what you have already
heard of Jesus Christ : if any thing you design be like to him, if any
thing you desire be equal to him, let him be rejected as one that hath
neither form nor comeliness in him ; but if, indeed, all your ways be
but vanity and vexation of spirit, in comparison of him, why do you
spend your " money for that which is not bread, and your labour for
that which satisfieth not?"
Use. 1. You that are yet in the flower of your days, fuU of health
and strength, and, with aU the vigour of your spirits, do pursue some
one thing, some another, consider, I pray, what are aU your beloveds
to this Beloved? What have you gotten by them? Let us see the
peace, quietness, assurance of everlasting blessedness that they have
given you? Their paths are crooked paths, whoe'er goes in them
shall not know peace. Behold here a fit object for your choicest
affections, — one in whom you may find rest to your souls, — one in
whom there is nothing wUl grieve and trouble you to eternity. Be
hold, he stands at the door of your souls, and knocks : 0 reject him
not, lest you seek him and find him not! Pray study him a little;
you love him not, because you know him not. Why doth one of you
spend his time in idleness and folly, and wasting of precious time,
— perhaps debauchedly? Why doth another associate and assemble
himself with them that scoff at religion and the things of God?
Merely because you know not our dear Lord Jesus. Oh, when he
shall reveal himself to you, and tell you he is Jesus whom you have
slighted and refused, how will it break your hearts, and make you
mourn like a dove, that you have neglected him ! and if you never
come to know him, it had been better you had never been. WhUst
it is called To-day, then, harden not your hearts.
Use 2. You that are, perhaps, seeking earnestly after a righteous
ness, and are religious persons, consider a little with yourselves, —
hath Christ his due place in your hearts? is he your aU? does he
dweU in your thoughts? do you know him in his excellency and
desirableness? do you indeed account all things " loss and dung" for

54 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
his exceeding exceUency? or rather, do you prefer almost any thing
in the world before it? But more of these things afterward.

CHAPTER III.
Of the way and manner whereby the saints hold communion with the Lord Christ
as to personal grace — The conjugal relation between Christ and the saints,
Cant. ii. 16; Isa. liv. 5, etc.; Cant. iii. 11, opened — The way of communion
in conjugal relation, Hos. iii. 3; Cant, i; 15 — On the part of Christ — On
the part of the saints.
(2.) The next thing that comes under consideration is, the way
whereby we hold communion with the Lord Christ, in respect of that
personal grace whereof we have spoken. Now, this the Scripture
manifests to be by the way of a conjugal relation. He is married
unto us, and we unto him; which spiritual relation is attended with
suitable conjugal affections. And this gives us feUowship with him
as to his personal excellencies.
• This the spouse expresseth, Cant. ii. 16, "My Beloved is mine,
and I am his;" — " He is mine, I possess him, I have interest in him,
as my head and my husband ; and I am his, possessed of him, owned
by him, given up unto him : and that as to my Beloved in a conjugal
relation." So Isa. liv. 5, " Thy Maker is thine husband ; the Lord of hosts
is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of
the whole earth shall he be caUed." This is yielded as the reason
why the church shall not be ashamed nor confounded, in the midst of
her troubles and trials, — she is married unto her Maker, and her Re
deemer is her husband. And Isaiah, chap. lxi. 10, setting out the mu
tual glory of Christ and his church in their walking together, he saith
it is "as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride
adorneth herself with jewels." Such is their condition, because such
is their relation; which he also farther expresseth, chap. lxU. 5, ".As
the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over
thee." As it is with such persons in the day of their espousals, in
the day- of the gladness of their hearts, so is it with Christ and his
saints in this relation. He is a husband to them, providing that it
may be with them according to the state and condition whereinto
he hath taken them.
To this purpose we have his faithful engagement, Hos. ii. 19, 20,
" I will," saith he, "betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I wUl betroth

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 55
thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kind
ness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me ia faithful
ness." And it is the main design of the ministry of the gospel, to
prevail with men to give up themselves unto the Lord Christ, as he
reveals his kindness in this engagement. Hence Paul tells the Co
rinthians, 2 Cor. xi. 2, that he had "espoused them unto one husband,
that he might present them as a chaste virgin unto Christ." This he
had prevailed upon them for, by the preaching of the gospel, that
they should give up themselves as a virgin, unto him who had be
trothed them to himself as a husband.
And this is a relation wherein the Lord Jesus is exceedingly de
lighted, and inviteth others to behold him in this his glory, Cant.
in. 11, "Go forth," saith he, "0 ye daughters of Jerusalem, and
behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned
him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his
heart." He calls forth the daughters of Jerusalem (all sorts of pro
fessors) to consider him in the condition of betrothing and espousing
his church unto himself. Moreover, he tells them that they shall
find on him two thmgs eminently upon this account: — 1. Honour.
It is the day of his coronation, and his spouse is the crown wherewith
he is crowned. For as Christ is a diadem of beauty and a crown of
glory unto Zion, Isa. xxviii 5 ; so Zion also is a diadem and a crown
unto him, Isa. lxii. 3. Christ makes this relation with his saints to
be his glory and his honour. 2. Delight. The day of his espousals,
of taking poor sinful souls into his bosom, is the day of the gladness
of his heart. John was but the friend of the Bridegroom, that stood
and heard his voice, when he was taking his bride unto himself; and
he rejoiced greatly, John Ui. 29 : how much more, then, must be the
joy and gladness of the Bridegroom himself! even that which is ex
pressed, Zeph. Ui 17, " he rejoiceth with joy, he joys with singing."
It is the gladness of the heart of Christ, the joy of his soul, to take
poor sinners into this relation with himself. He rejoiced in the
thoughts of it from eternity, Prov. viii. 31 ; and always expresseth the
greatest willingness to undergo the hard task required thereunto, Ps.
xl. 7, 8 ; Heb. x. 7 ; yea, he was pained as a woman in travail, untU
he had accomplished it,. Luke xii. 50. Because he loved his church,
he gave himself for it, Eph. v. 25, despising the shame, and enduring
the cross, Heb. xii. 2, that he might enjoy his bride, — that he might
be for her, and she for him, and not for another, Hos. Ui. 3. This is
joy, when he is thus crowned by his mother. It is believers that are
mother and brother of this Solomon, Matt. xii. 49, 50. They crown
him in the day of his espousals, giving themselves to him, and be
coming his glory, 2 Cor. viU. 23.
Thus he sets out his whole communion with his church under this

56 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
allusion, and that most frequently. The time of his taking the church
unto himself is the day of his marriage; and the church is his bride,
his wife, Rev. xix. 7, 8. The entertainment he makes for his saints
is a wedding supper, Matt. xxii. 3. The graces of his church are the
ornaments of his queen, Ps. xiv. 9-14; and the fellowship he hath
with his saints is as that which those who are mutually beloved in a
conjugal relation do hold, Cant, i Hence Paul, in describing these
two, makes sudden and insensible transitions from one to the other, —
Eph. v., from verse 22 unto verse 32; concluding the whole with an
application unto Christ and the church.
It is now to be inquired, in the next place, how it is that we hold
communion with the person of Christ in respect of conjugal relations
and affections, and wherein this doth consist. Now, herein there are
some things that are common unto Christ and the saints, and some
things that are peculiar to each of them, as the nature of this relation
doth require. The whole may be reduced unto these two heads: —
[1.] A mutual resignation of themselves one to ihe other; [2.] Mu
tual, consequential, conjugal affections.
[1.] There is a mutual resignation, or making over of then: persons
one to another. This is the first act of communion, as to the personal
grace of Christ. Christ makes himself over to the soul, to be his, as
to all the love, care, and tenderness of a husband ; and the soul gives
up itself whoUy unto the Lord Christ, to be his, as to aU loving, ten
der obedience. And herein is the main of Christ's and the saints'
espousals. This, in the prophet, is set out under a parable of himself
and a harlot, Hos. iU. 3, " Thou shalt abide for me," saith he unto her,
" thou shalt not be for another, and I will be for thee." — "Poor harlot,"
saith the Lord Christ, " I have bought thee unto myself with the
price of mine own blood ; and now, this is that which we will consent
unto, — I WILL BE FOR THEE, AND THOU SHALT BE FOR ME, and not
for another.
1st. Christ gives himself to the soul, with all his excellencies, right
eousness, preciousness, graces, and eminencies, to be its Saviour,
head, and husband, for ever to dweU with it in this holy relation.
He looks upon the souls of his saints, likes them well, counts them
fair and beautiful, because he hath made them so. Cant, i 15, " Be
hold, thou art fair, my companion; behold, thou art fair; thou hast
doves' eyes." Let others think what they please, Christ redoubles it,
that the souls of his saints are very beautiful, even perfect, through
his comeliness, which he puts upon them, Ezek. xvi. 14, — " Behold,
thou art fair, thou art fair:"1 particularly, that their spiritual Ught is
very excellent and glorious ; like the eyes of a dove, tender, discerning,
clear, and shining. Therefore he adds that pathetical wish of the
1 " Repetit non citra ritu, en tu pulchra es." — Mercer.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 57
enjoyment of this his spouse, Cant. ii. 14, "0 my dove," saith he,
" that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let
me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice ; for sweet is thy voice,
and thy countenance is comely;" — " Do not hide thyself, as one that
flies to the clefts of the rocks; be not dejected, as one that hides her
self behind the stairs, and is afraid to come forth to the company that
inquires for her. Let not thy spirit be cast down at the weakness
of thy supplications, let me yet hear thy sighs and groans, thy breath
ings and pantings to me; they are very sweet, very delightful: and
thy spiritual countenance, thy appearance in heavenly things, is
comely and delightful unto me." Neither doth he leave her thus,
but, chap. iv. 8, presseth her hard to a closer [union] with him in
this conjugal bond : " Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse,
with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top
of Shenir and Hermon, from the Uons' dens, from the mountains of
the leopards;" — " Thou art in a wandering condition (as the Israelites
of old), among Uons and leopards, sins and troubles; come from
thence unto me, and I will give thee refreshment," Matt. xi. 28.
Upon this invitation, the spouse boldly concludes, Cant. vii. 10,
that the desire of Christ is towards her; that he doth indeed love her,
and aim at taking her into this fellowship with himself. So, in carry
ing on this union, Christ freely bestoweth himself upon the souL Pre
cious and excellent as he is, he becometh ours. He makes himself
to be so ; and with him, all his graces. Hence saith the spouse, " ' My
Beloved is mine ;' in aU that he is, he is mine." Because be is right
eousness,1 he is " The Lord our Righteousness," Jer. xxni 6. Because
he is the wisdom of God, and the power of God, he is " made unto us
wisdom," etc., 1 Cor. i. 30. Thus, " the branch of the Lord is beauti
ful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth is excellent and comely
for them that are escaped of Israel," Isa. iv. 2. This is the first thing
on the part of Christ, — ihe free donation and bestowing of himself
upon us to be our Christ, our Beloved, as to aU the ends and purposes
of love, mercy, grace, and glory; whereunto in his mediation he is
designed, in a marriage covenant never to be broken. This is the
sum of what is intended : — The Lord Jesus Christ, fitted and prepared,
by the accomplishment and furniture of his person as mediator, and
the large purchase of grace and glory which he hath made, to be a
husband to his saints, his church, tenders himself in the promises of
the gospel to them in all his desirableness; convinces them of his
good-will towards them, and his aU-sufficiency for a supply of their
wants; and upon their consent to accept of him, — which is all he re
quires or expects at theu- hands, — he engageth himself in a marriage
covenant to be theirs for ever. ' Isa. xiv. 24, 25.

58 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
2dly. On the part of the saints, it is their free, willing consent to
receive, embrace, and submit unto the Lord Jesus, as their husband,
lord, and Saviour, — to abide with him, subject their souls unto him,
and to be ruled by him for ever.
Now, this in the soul is either initial,, or the solemn consent at the
first entrance of union ; or consequential, in renewed acts of consent
all our days. I speak of it especially in this latter sense, wherein it
is proper unto communion ; not in the former, wherein it primarily
intendeth union.
There are two things that complete this self-resignation of the
soul: —
(1st.) The liking of Christ, for his excellency, grace, and suitable
ness, far above all other beloveds whatever, preferring him in the
judgment and mind above them all. In the place above mentioned,
Cant. v. 9, the spouse being earnestly pressed, by professors at large,
to give in her thoughts concerning the excellency of her Beloved
in comparison of other endearments, answereth expressly, that he is
"the chiefest of ten thousand, yea," verse 16, "altogether lovely," — in
finitely beyond comparison with the choicest created good or endear
ment imaginable. The soul takes. a view of all that is in this world,
" the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of hfe," and
sees it all to be vanity, — that " the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof," 1 John ii 16, 17. These beloveds are no way to be com
pared unto him. It views also legal righteousness, blamelessness
before men, uprightness of conversation, duties upon conviction, and
concludes of all as Paul doth, PhU. Ui. 8, " Doubtless, I count aU
these things loss for the exceUency of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus my Lord." So, also, doth the church, Hos. xiv. 3, reject aU
appearing assistances whatever, — as goodly as Asshur, as promising as
idols, — that God alone may be preferred. And this is the soul's en
trance into conjugal communion with Jesus Christ as to personal
grace,— the constant preferring him above all pretenders^ to its affec
tions, counting aU loss and dung in comparison of him. Beloved
peace, beloved natural relations, beloved wisdom,and learning, be
loved righteousness, beloved duties, [are] all loss, compared with
Christ. (2dly.) The accepting of Christ by the will, as its only husband, Lord,
and Saviour. This is called "receiving" of Christ, John i 12; and
is not intended only for that solemn act whereby at first entrance we
close with him, but also for the constant frame of the soul in abiding
with him and owning of him as such. When the soul consents to
take Christ on his own terms, to save him in his own way,1 and says,
" Lord, I would have had thee and salvation in my way, that it might
; Rom. ix. 31, 32, x. 3, 4.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 59
have been partly of mine endeavours, and as it were by the works of
the law ; I am now willing to. receive thee and to be saved in thy way,
— merely by grace : and though I would have walked according to my
own mind, yet now I wholly give up myself to be ruled by thy Spirit :
for in thee have I righteousness and strength,1 in thee am I justified
and do glory;" — then doth it canyon communion with Christ as to
the grace of his person. This it is to receive the Lord Jesus in his
comeliness and eminency. Let believers exercise their hearts abun
dantly unto this thing. This is choice communion with the Son Jesus
Christ. Let us receive him in all his excellencies, as he bestows him
self upon us ; — be frequent in thoughts of faithj comparing him with
other beloveds, sin, world, legal righteousness; and preferring him
before them, counting them aU loss and dung in comparison of him.
And let our souls be persuaded of his sincerity and willingness in
giving himself, in aU that he is, as mediator unto us, to be ours; and
let our hearts give up themselves unto him. Let us teU him that we
wiU be for him, and not for another: let him know it from us; he
delights to hear it, yea, he says, " Sweet is our voice, and our counte
nance is comely ; " — and we shaU not faiiin the issue of sweet refresh
ment with him. Digression I.
Some excellencies of Christ proposed to consideration, to endear our hearts unto
him — His description, Cant, v., opened.
To strengthen our hearts in the resignation mentioned of ourselves
unto the Lord Christ as our husband, as also to make way for the
stirring of us up to those consequential conjugal affections of which
mention shaU afterward be made, I shaU turn aside to a more fuU
description of some of the personal exceUencies of the Lord Christ,
whereby the hearts of his saints are indeed endeared unto him.
In " The Lord our Righteousness," then, may these ensuing things
be considered; which are exceeding suitable to prevail upon our hearts
to give up themselves to be wholly his: —
1. He is exceeding excellent and desirable in his2 Deity, and the
glory thereof. He is " Jehovah our Righteousness," Jer. xxiii 6. In
the rejoicing of Zion at his coming to her, this is the bottom, " Be-
Tea „lV _4 *
8 Numb, xxi! 5; 1 Cor. x. 9; Ps. lxviii. 18; Eph. iv. 8, 10; Ps. xcvii. 7; Heb.
i. 6; Ps. cii. 25; Isa. vii. 14; Luke ii. 34; Rom. ix. 5; 1 Pet. u. 6; Isa. xl. 3,
xliv. 6, xiv. 22, xlviii. 12; Rom. xiv. 10; Rev. i. 11; Mai. iii. 1; Ps. n. 12; ; Isa.
xxxv. 4, Iii. 5, 6, xiv. 14, 15; Zech. ii. 8, 12, iii. 1, xii. 10; Matt. xvi. 16; Luke
i. 16, 17; John v. 18, 19, x. 30, i. 1, 3, 10, 14, vi. 62, viii. 23, 58; Col. i. 16; Heb.
i. 2, 10-12; John iii. 13, 31, xvi. 28; Mic. v. 2; Prov. viii. 23; John xvii. 5; Jer.

60 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
hold thy God ! " Isa. xl. 9. " We haye seen his glory," saith the apostle.
What glory is that? " The glory of the only-begotten Son of God,"
John i. 14. The choicest saints have been afraid and amazed at the
beauty of an angel ; and the stoutest sinners have trembled at the
glory of one of those creatures in a low appearance, representing but
the back parts of their glory, who yet themselves, in their highest
advancement, do cover their faces at the presence of our Beloved, as
conscious to themselves of their utter disabUity to bear the rays of
his glory, Isa. vi. 2 ; John xii. 39-41. He is " the fellow of the Lord,
of hosts," Zech. xUi. 7. And though he once appeared in the form
of a servant, yet then " he thought it not robbery to be equal with
God," Phil. U. 6. In the glory of this majesty he dweUs in light
inaccessible. We " cannot by searching find out the Almighty unto
perfection: it is as high as heaven; what can we do? deeper than
hell; what can we know? the measure thereof is longer than the
earth, and broader than the sea," Job xi. 7-9. We may all say one
to another of this, " Surely we are more brutish than any man,
and" have not the understanding- of a man. We neither learned wis
dom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. Who hath ascended up
into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists?
who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established aU
the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his Son's name,
if ye can tell," Prov. xxx. 2-4.
If -any one should ask, now, with them in the Canticles, what is in
the Lord Jesus, our beloved, more than in other beloveds, that should
make him so desirable, and amiable, and worthy of acceptation?
what is he more than others? I ask, What is a king more than a
beggar? Much every way. Alas! -this is nothing; they were born
alike, must die alike, and after that is the judgment. What is an
angel more than a worm ? A worm is a creature, and an angel is
no more ; he hath made the one to creep in the earth, — made also the
other to dwell in heaven. There is still a proportion between these,
they agree in something; but what are aU the nothings of the world
to the God infinitely blessed for evermore? ShaU 'the dust of the
balance, or the drop of the bucket be laid in the scale against him?
This is he of whom the sinners in Zion are afraid, and cry, " Who
amongst us shaU dweU with the devouring fire, who amongst us
shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" I might now give vou a
glimpse of his exceUency in many of those properties and attributes
by which he discovers himself to the faith of poor sinners; but as
xxiii. 6; 1 John v. 20; Rev. i. 18, iv. 8; Acts xx. 28; 1 John iii. 16; Phil. ii. 6-8;
1 Tim. iii. 16; Heb. ii. 16; 1 John iv. 3; Heb. x. 5; John xx. 28; John x. 29-31;
Matt. xvi. 16; Rom. viii. 32; John iii. 16, 18; Col. i. 15; John xvii. 10; Isa. ix. 6:
Col. ii. 9: 1 Cor. viii. 6, ii. 8; Ps. lxviii. 17.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 61
he that goes into a garden where there are innumerable flowers in
great variety, gathers not aU he sees, but crops here and there one,
and another, 1 shall endeavour to open a door, and give an inlet into
the infinite excellency of the graces of the Lord Jesus, as he is " God
blessed for evermore," — presenting the reader with one or two in
stances, leaving him to gather for his own Use what farther he pleas
eth. Hence, then, observe, —
The endless, bottomless, boundless grace and compassion that is
in him who is thus our husband, as he is the God of Zion. It is not
the grace of a creature, nor aU the grace that can possibly at once
dwell in a created nature, that wUl serve our turn. We are too in
digent to be suited with such a supply. There was a fulness of grace
in the human nature of Christ, — he received not " the Spirit by mea
sure," John iii. 34; a fulness like that of light in the sun, or of water
in the sea (I speak not in respect of communication, but sufficiency) ;
a fulness incomparably above the measure of angels: yet it was not
properly an infinite fulness, — it was a created, and therefore a Umited
fulness. If it could be conceived as separated from the Deity, surely
so many thirsty, guilty souls, as every day drink deep and large
draughts of grace and mercy from him, would (if I may so speak)
sink him to the very bottom; nay, it could afford no supply at all,
but only in a moral way. But when the conduit of his humanity is
inseparably united to the infinite, inexhaustible fountain of the Deity,
who can look mto the depths jthereof? If, now, there be grace enough
for sinners in an all-sufficient God, it is in Christ; and, indeed, in any
other there cannot be enough. The Lord gives this reason for the
peace and confidence of sinners, Isa. Uv. 4, 5, " Thou shalt not be
ashamed, neither be thou confounded-; for thou shalt not be put to
shame." But how shaU this be ? So much sin, and not ashamed ! 'so
much guilt, and not confounded ! " Thy Maker," saith he, " is thine
husband ; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy
One of Israel ; The God of the whole earth shall he be called." This
is the bottom of all peace, confidence, and consolation, — the grace and
mercy of our Maker, of the God of the whole earth. So are kindness
and power tempered in him; he makes us, and mars us, — he is our
God and our Goe], our Redeemer. " Look unto me," saith he, " and
be ye saved; for I am God, and none else," Isa. xiv. 22, " Surely, shaU
one say, In the Lord have I righteousness," verse 24.
And on this ground it is that if aU the world should (if I may so
say) set themselves to drink free grace, mercy, and pardon, drawing
1 water continually from the wells of salvation; if they should set
themselves to draw from one single promise, an angel standing by
and crying, " Drink, 0 my friends, yea, drink abundantly, take so
1 Cant. v. 1 j Isa. Iv. 1; Rev. xxii. 17; John vii. 37, 38.

62 OF COMMUNION'WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
much grace and pardon as. shall be abundantly sufficient for the world
of sin which is in every one of ypu ;" — they would not be able to sink
the grace of the promise one hair's breadth. There is enough for
millions of worlds, if they were ; because it flows into it from an in
finite, bottomless fountain. " Fear not, 0 worm Jacob, I am God,
and not man," is the bottom of sinners' consolation. This is that
" head of gold" mentioned, Cant. v. 11, that most precious fountain of
grace and mercy. This infiniteness of grace, in respect of its spring
and fountain, will answer aU objections that might hinder our souls
from drawing nigh to commumon with him, and from a free em
bracing of him. Will not this suit us in all our distresses? What is
our finite guilt before it? Show me the sinner that can spread his
iniquities to the dimensions (if I may so say) of this grace. Here is
mercy enough for the greatest, the oldest, the stubbornest transgres
sor, — "Why wUl ye die, 0 house of Israel?" Take heed of them
who would rob you of the Deity of Christ. If there were no more
grace for me than what can be treasured up in a mere man, I should
rejoice [if] my portion might be under rocks and mountains.
Consider, hence, his eternal, free, unchangeable love. Were the
love of Christ unto us but the love of ,a mere man, though never so
exceUent, innocent, and glorious, it must have a beginning, it. must
have an ending, and perhaps he fruitless. The love of Christ in his
human nature towards his is exceeding, intense, tender, precious,
compassionate, abundantly heightened by a sense of our miseries, feel
ing of our;wants, experience of our temptations ; aU flowing from that
rich stock of grace, pity, and compassion, which, on purpose for our
good and supply, was bestowed on him : but yet this love, as such,
cannot be infinite nor eternal, nor from itself absolutely unchange
able. Were it no more, though not to be paralleled nor fathomed,
yet our Saviour could not say of it, as he doth, " As the Father hath
loved me, so have I loved you," John xv. 9. His love could not be
compared with and equalled unto the divine love of the Father, in
those properties of eternity, fruitfulness, and unchangeableness, which
are the chief anchors of the soul, rolling itself on" the bosom of Christ.
But now, —
(1.) It is eternal: " Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have
not," saith he, " spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time
that it was, there am I : and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath
sent me," Isa. xlviii. 16. He himself is " yesterday, to-day, and for
ever," Heb. xiii. 8 ; and so is his love, being his who is " Alpha and
Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the ending, which
is, which was, and which is to come," Rev. i 11.
(2.) Unchangeable. Our love is like ourselves; as we are, so are
all our affections: so is the love of Christ like himself. We love one,

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 63
one day, and hate him the next. He changeth, and we change also :
this day he is our right hand, our right eye; the next day, " Cut him
off, pluck him out." 2 Jesus Christ is still the same ; and so is his love.
" In the beginning he laid the foundation of the earth ; and the hea
vens are the works of his hands; they shall perish, but he remaineth:
they all shall wax bid as doth a garment; and as a vesture shall he
fold them up, and they shall be changed : but he is the same, and
his years fail not," Heb. i. 10-12. He is the Lord, and he changeth
not; and therefore we are not consumed. Whom he loves, he loves
unto the end.3 His love is such as never had beginning, and never
shall have ending.
(3.) It is also fruitful, — fruitful in all gracious issues and effects.
A man may love another as his own soul, yet perhaps that love of
his cannot help him. He may_ thereby pity him in prison, but not
relieve him; bemoan him in misery, but not help him; suffer with
him in trouble, but not ease him. We cannot love grace into a child,
nor mercy into a friend; we cannot love them into heaven, though it
may be the great desire of our soul. It was love that made Abraham
cry, " 0 that Ishmael might Uve before thee!" but it might not be.
But now the love of Christ, being the love of God, is effectual and
fruitful in producing aU the good things which he willeth unto his
beloved. He loves life, grace, and holiness into us ; he loves us also
into covenant, loves us into heaven. Love in him is properly to will
good to any one : whatever good Christ by his love wUls to any, that
willing is operative of that good.
These three qualifications of the love of Christ make it exceedingly
eminent, and him exceeding desirable. How many millions of sins, in
every one of the elect, every one whereof were enough to condemn
them all, hath this love overcome ! what mountains of unbelief doth
it remove ! Look upon the conversation of any one saint, consider
the frame of his heart, see the many stains and spots, the defilements
and infirmities, wherewith his life is contaminated, and tell me whe
ther the love that bears with aU this be not to be admired. And is
it not the same towards thousands every day? What streams of
grace, purging, pardoning, quickening, assisting, do flow from it every
day! This is our Beloved, 0 ye. daughters of Jerusalem.
2. He is desirable and worthy our acceptation, as considered in his
humanity; even" therein also, in reference to us, he is exceedingly
desirable. I shall only, in this, note unto you two things: — (1.) Its
freedom from sin ; (2.) It fulness of grace; — in both which regards
the Scripture sets him 'out as exceedingly lovely and amiable.
(1.) He was free from sin; — the3 Lamb of God, without spot, and
without blemish; the male of the flock, to be offered unto God, the
' Gal. iv. 14, 15. 2 Mai. iii. 6; John xiii. 1. "1 Pet. i. 19.

64 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
curse falling on all other oblations, and them that offer them, Mai
i. 14. The purity of the snow is not to be compared with the white
ness of this lily, of this ^ose of Sharon, even from the womb : " For
such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, sepa
rate from sinners," Heb. vii. 26. Sanctified persons, whose stains are
in any measure washed away, are exceeding fair in the eye of Christ
himself. "Thou2 art all fair," saith he, "my love, thou hast no spot
in thee." How fair, then, is he who never had the least spot or stain !
It "is true, Adam at his creation had this spotless purity; so had
the angels : but they came immediately from the 3hand of God,
without concurrence of any secondary cause. Jesus Christ* is a plant
and root out of a dry ground, a blossom from the stem of Jesse, a bud
from the Joins of sinful man, — born of a sinner, after there had been
no innocent flesh in the world for four thousand years, every one upon
the roll of his genealogy being infected therewithal. To have a
flower of wonderful rarity to grow in paradise, a garden of God's own
planting, not sullied in the least, is not so strange ; but, as the psal
mist speaks (in another kind), to hear of it in a wood, to find it in a
forest, to have a spotless bud brought forth in the wilderness of cor
rupted nature, is a thing which angels may desire to look into. Nay,
more, this whole nature was not only defiled, but also accursed ; not
only unclean, but also guilty, — guilty of Adam's transgression, in
whom we have all sinned. That the human nature of Christ should
be derived from hence free from guilt, free from pollution, this is to
be adored.
Objection. But you wiU say, " How can this be? who can bring a
clean thing from an unclean? How could Christ take our nature, and
not the defilements of it, and the guUt of it? If 6Levi paid tithes in
the loins of Abraham, how is it that Christ did not sin in the loins
of Adam?"
Answer. There are two things in original sin: —
[1 .] Guilt of the first sin, which is imputed to us. We all sinned in
him. 'Ep' tS wdvng %/j,aprov, Rom. v. 12, whether we render it relatively
" in whom," or illatively, " being all have sinned," all is one : that one
sin is the sin of us all, — " omnes eramus unus Ule homo." We were
all in covenant with him ; he was not only a natural head, but also a
federal head unto us. As Christ is to believers, Rom. v. 17; 1 Cor.
xv. 22, so was he to us all ; and his transgression of that covenant is
reckoned tc us.
[2.] There is the derivation pf a polluted, corrupted nature from
him: 6" Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" " That
'Cant. ii. 1. 2 Cant. i. 15, 16, iv. 1, 7, 10. » Eccles. vii. 29.
« Isa. liii. 2. 5 Heb. vii. 9, 10.
• Job xiv. 4; $_Stn/tx rrig trx^xig, Rom. viii. 7; John iii. 6. N«ot rit o-xoxig, Col. ii. 18.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 65
which is born of the flesh is flesh," and nothing else; whose wisdom
and mind is corrupted also : a polluted fountain will have polluted
streams. The first person corrupted nature, and that nature cor
rupts all persons following. Now, from both these was Christ most
free: —
1st. He was never federally in Adam, and so not liable to the
imputation of his sin on that account. It is true that sin was im
puted to him when he was made sin;1 thereby he took away the sin
of the world, John i. 29 : but it was imputed to him in the covenant
of the Mediator, through his voluntary susception, and not in the
covenant of Adam, by a legal imputation. Had it been reckoned to
him as a descendant from Adam, he had not been a fit high priest to
have offered sacrifices for iis, as not being " separate from sinners,"
Heb. vii. 26. Had Adam stood in his innocency, Christ had not
been incarnate, to have been a mediator for sinners ; and therefore the
counsel of his incarnation, morally, took not place3 until after the fall.
Though he was in Adam in a natural sense from his first creation, in
respect of the purpose of God, Luke iii. 23, 38, yet he was not in him
in a law sense until after the fall : so that, as to his own person, he had
no more to do with the first sin of Adam, than with any personal sin of
[any] one whose punishment he voluntarily took upon him ; as we are
not liable to the guUt of those progenitors who followed Adam, though
naturally we were no less in them than in him. Therefore did he,
all the days of his flesh, serve God in a covenant of works ; and was
therein accepted with him, having done nothing that should disannul
the virtue of that covenant as to him. This doth not, then, in the
least take off from his perfection.
2dly. For the pollution of our nature, it was prevented in him
from the instant of conception, Luke i. 35, " The Holy Ghost .shall
come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee :
therefore also that holy ' thing that shaU be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God." He was " made of a woman," Gal. iv. 4; but
that portion whereof he was made was sanctified by the Holy Ghost,
that what was born thereof should be a holy thing. Not only the con
junction and union of soul and body, whereby a man becomes par
taker of his whole nature, and therein of the pollution of sin, being a
son of Adam, was prevented by the sanctification of the Holy Ghost,
but it also accompanied the very separation of his bodily substance
in the womb unto that sacred purpose whereunto it was set apart :
so that upon all accounts he is " holy, harmless, undefiled." Add
now hereunto, that he " did no sin, neither was guUe found in his
mouth," 1 Pet. u. 22 ; that he "fulfiUed all righteousness," Matt. iii. 15 ;
his Father being always "weU pleased" with him, verse 17, on the
1 2 Cor. v. 21. • Gen. iii. 15.
VOL. IL *>

66 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
account pf his perfect obedience; yea, even in that sense wherein he
chargeth his angels with folly, and those inhabitants of heaven are
not clean in his sight; and his excellency and desirableness in this
regard will lie before us. Such was he, such is he; and yet for our
sakes was he contented not only to be esteemed by the vilest of men
to be a transgressor, but to undergo from God the punishment due
to the vUest sinners. Of which afterward.
(2.) The fulness of grace in Christ's human nature sets forth the
amiableness and desirableness thereof. Should I make it my business
to consider his perfections, as to this part of his exceUency, — what he
had from the womb, Luke i. 35, what received growth and improve
ment as to exercise i in the days of his flesh, Luke ii. 52, with the com
plement of them all hi glory, — the whole would tend to the purpose in
hand. I am but taking a view of these things in transitu. These
two things lie in open sight to aU at the first consideration : — all grace
was in him, for the kinds thereof; and all degrees of grace, for its
perfections; and both of them make up that fulness that was in him.
It is created grace that I intend; and therefore I speak of the kinds
of it : it is grace inherent in a created nature, not infinite ; and there
fore I speak of the degrees of.it.
For the fountain of grace, the Holy Ghost, he received not him
" by measure," John ui. 34 ; and for the communications of the Spirit,
" it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell," Col.
i 19,— "that in aU things he might have the pre-eminence." But
these things are commonly spoken unto.
This is the Beloved of our souls, " holy, harmless, undefiled;" " full
of grace and truth;" — ^1fuU, to a sufficiency for every end of grace, —
full, for practice, to be an example to men and angels as to obedience,
— full, to a certainty of uninterrupted communion with God, — fuU, to
a readiness of giving supply to others, — full, to suit him to all the
occasions and necessities of the souls of men, — full, to a glory not
unbecoming a subsistence in the person of the Son of God, — full, to
a perfect victory, in trials, over all temptations, — full, to an exact cor
respondency to the whole law, every righteous and holy law of God,
— full, to the utmost capacity of a limited, created, finite nature, —
full, to the greatest beauty and glory of a living temple of God, — fuU,
to the full pleasure and delight of the soul of his Father, — full to an
everlasting monument of the glory of God, in giving such inconceiv
able excellencies to the Son of man.
And this is the second thing considerable for the endearing of our
souls to. our Beloved.
3.. Cpnsider that he is all this in one person. We have not been
1 John i. 14, 16; 1 Cor.xi. 1; Eph. v. 2; 1 Pet. ii. 21; Matt. iii. 17; Heb. ii. 18,
vii. 25.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 67
treating of two, a God and a man; but of1 one who is God and man.
That Word that was with God in the beginning, and was God, John
i. 1, is also made flesh, verse 14; — not by a conversion of itself into
flesh; not by appearing in the outward shape and likeness of flesh;
but by assuming that holy thing that was born of the virgin, Luke
i. 35, into personal union with himself. So " The mighty God," Isa.
ix. 6, is a "child given" to us; that holy thing that was born of the
virgin is called " The Son of God," Luke i. 35. That which made
the man Christ Jesus to be a man, was the union of soul and body ;
that which made him that man, and without which he was not the
man, was the subsistence of both united in the person of the Son of
God. As to the proof hereof, I have spoken of it 2 elsewhere at large ;
I now propose it only in general, to show the amiableness of Christ
on this account. Here lies, hence arises, the grace, peace, life, and
security of the church, — of all believers ; as by some few considerations
may be clearly evinced : —
(1.) Hence was he fit' to suffer ahd able to bear whatever was due
unto us, in that very action wherein the " Son of man gave his life
a ransom for many," Matt. xx. 28. " God redeemed his church with
his own blood," Acts xx. 28 ; and therein was the " love of God seen,
that he gave his life for us," 1 John iU. 16. On this account was there
room enough in his breast to receive the points of all the ^ swords
that were sharpened by the law against us; and strength enough in
his shoulders to bear the burden of that curse that was due to us.
Thence was he so willing to undertake the work of our redemption,
Heb. x 7, 8, " Lo, I come to do thy will, 0 God," — because he knew
his abUity to go through with it. Had he not been man, he could
not have suffered; — had he not been God, his suffering could not
have avaUed either himself or us, — he had not satisfied ; the suffering
of a mere man could not bear any proportion to that which in any
respect was infinite. Had the great and righteous God gathered
together all the sins that had been committed by his elect from the
foundation of the world, and searched the bosoms of all that were to
come to the end of the world, and taken them all, from the sin of
their nature to the least deviation from the rectitude of his most holy
1 " Qui, propter homines liberandos ab aeterna morte, homo factus est, et ita ad
susceptionem humilitatis nostrse, sine suas majestatis diminutione inclinans, ut
inanens quod erat, assumensque quod non erat; veram servi formam, ei formse,
in qua Deo patri est sequalis, adunaret, ut nee inferiorem absumeret glorificatio,
nee superiorem minueret assumptio; salvS enim proprietate utriusque substantive,
et in unam coeunte personam, suscipitur a majestate humilitas, a virtute infirmi-
tas, a mortalitate seternitas, et ad rependendum nostras conditionis debitum, na
tura inviolabilis naturas est unita passibili," etc. — Leo. Serm. i. De Nat.
* Vind. Evan. c. vii. vol. xii.
3 " Deus verus, et homo verus in nnitatem Domini temperatur, ut, quod nostris
remediis congruebat, unus atque idem Dei hominumque mediator et mori possit ex
uno, etresurgere possit ex altero." — Leo. ubi .sup. * Zech. xiii.7; Ps. Ixxxix. 19.

68 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
law, and the highest provocation of their regenerate and unregene
rate condition, and laid them on a mere holy, innocent, creature; —
0 how would they have overwhelmed him, and buried him for ever
out of the presence of God's love! Therefore doth the apostle pre
mise that glorious description of him to the purging of our sin: " He
hath spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all
things, by whom also he made the worlds ; who being the brightness of
his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things
by the word of his power," hath " purged our sins." Heb. i 2, 3. It
was he that purged, our sins, who was the Son and heir of all things,
by whom the world was made, — the brightness of his Father's glory,
and express image of his person ; he did it, he alone was able to do
it. " God was manifested in the flesh," 1 Tim. iii. 16, for this work.
The sword awaked against him that was the feUow of the Lord of
hosts, Zech. xiii 7 ; and by the wounds of that great shepherd are
the sheep healed, 1 Pet. ii. 24, 25.
(2.) Hence doth he become an endless, bottomless fountain of grace
to all them that believe. The fulness that it pleased the Father to
commit to Christ, to be the great treasury and storehouse of the
church, did not, doth not, Ue in the human nature, considered in
itself; but in the person of the mediator, God and man. Consider
wherein his communication of grace doth consist, and this wUl be
evident. The foundation of all is laid in his satisfaction, merit, and
purchase; these are the morally procuring cause of all the grace we
receive from Christ. Hence all grace becomes to be his';1 all the
things of the new covenant, the promises of God, all the mercy, love,
grace, glory promised, became, I say, to be his. Not as though they
were all actually invested, or did reside and were in the human na
ture, and were from thence really communicated tp us by a participa
tion of a portion of what did so inhere : but they are morally his, by aa
compact, to be bestowed by him as he thinks good, as he is mediator,
God and man; that is, the only begotten Son made flesh, John i 14,
" from whose fulness we receive, and grace for grace." The real com
munication of grace is by Christ sending the Holy Ghost to regene
rate us, and to create all the habitual grace, with the daUy supplies
thereof, in our hearts, that we are made partakers of. Now the Holy
Ghost is thus sent by Christ as mediator; God and man, as is at large
declared, John xiv. xv. xvi. ; of which more afterward. ' This, then,
is that which I intend by this fulness of grace that is in Christ, from
whence we have both our beginning and all our suppUes; which
makes him, as he is the Alpha and Omega of his church, the beginner
and finisher of our faith, exceUent and desirable to our souls : 3 — Upon
1 John xvi. 14, 15. 2 Isa. liii. 11. 12; John i. 16; Col. i. 19, 20.
3 Heb. xii. 2; Rev. i. 11.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 69
the payment of the great price of his blood, and full acquitment on
the satisfaction he made, all grace whatever (of which at large after
ward) becomes, in a moral sense, his, at his disposal; and he bestows
it on, or works it in, the hearts of his by the Holy Ghost, according
as, in his infinite wisdom, he sees it needful. How glorious is he to
the soul on this consideration ! That is most excellent to us which
suits us in a wanting condition, — that which gives bread to the
hungry, water to the thirsty, mercy to the perishing. All our reliefs
are thus in our Beloved. Here is the life of our souls, the joy of
our hearts, bur relief against sin and deliverance from the wrath to
come. (3.) Thus is he fitted for a- mediator, a days-man, an umpire be
tween God and us, — being one with him, and one -with us, and one
in himself in this oneness, in the unity of one person. His ability
and universal fitness for his office of mediator are hence usually de
monstrated. And herein is he " Christ,1 the power of God, and the
wisdom of God." Herein shines out the infinitely glorious wisdom of
God ; which we may better admire than express. What soul that
hath any acquaintance with these things falls not down with reve
rence and astonishment? How glorious is he. that is the Beloved of
our souls ! What can be wanting that should encourage us to take
up our rest and peace in his bosom? Unless all ways of relief and
refreshment be so obstructed by unbelief, that no consideration can
reach the heart to yield it the least assistance, it is impossible but
that from hence the soul may gather that which will endear it unto
him with whom we have to do. Let us dwell on the thoughts of it.
This is the hidden mystery; great without controversy; admirable to
eternity. What poor, low, perishing things do we spend our con
templations on ! Were we to have no advantage by this astonishing
dispensation, yet its excellency, glory, beauty, depths, deserve the
flower of our inquiries, the vigour of our spirits, the substance of our
time; but when, withal, our life, our peace, our joy, our inheritance,
our eternity, our all, lies herein, shall not the thoughts of it always
dwell in our hearts, always refresh and delight our souls?
(4.) He is exceUent and glorious in this, — in that he is exalted
and invested with all authority. When" Jacob heard of the exalta
tion of his son Joseph in Egypt, and saw the chariots that he had
sent for him, his spirit fainted and recovered again, through abun
dance of jay and other overflowing affections. Is our Beloved lost,
who for our sakes was upon the earth poor and persecuted, reviled,
kUled? No! he was dead, but he is alive, and, lo, he lives for
ever and ever, and hath the keys of heU and of death.3 Our Beloved
is made a lord and ruler, Acts ii. 36. He is made a king; God sets
1 1 Cor. i. 24. 2 Gen. xiv. 26, 27. s Rev. i. 18.

70 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
him his king on his holy hill of Zion, Ps. ii. 6;1 and he is crowned
with honour and dignity, after he had been "made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death," Heb. ii 7-9. And what is he
made king of? " AU things, are put in subjection under his feet,"
verse 8. And what power over them hath our Beloved? " All power
in heaven and earth," Matt. xxvUi. 18. As for men, he hath power
given him "over all flesh," John xvU. 2. And iu what glory doth he
exercise this power? He gives eternal life to his elect; ruling them
in the power of God, Micah v. 4, until he bring them to himself: and
for his enemies, his arrows are sharp in their hearts, Pa xiv. 5 ; he
dips his vesture in their blood.3 Oh, how glorious is he in his
authority over his enemies! In this world he terrifies, frightens,
awes, convinces, bruises their hearts and consciences, — fills them with
fear, terror, disquietment, until they yield him feigned obedience;
and sometimes with outward judgments bruises, breaks, turns the
wheel upon them, — stains all his vesture with their blood, — fills the
earth with their carcases: and at last will gather them all together,
beast, false prophet, nations, etc., and cast them into that lake that
burns with fire and brimstone.3
He is gloriously exalted above angels in this his authority, good
and bad, Eph. i. 20-22, " far above all principality, ahd power, and
might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this
world, but also in that which is to come." They are all under his feet,
— at his command and absolute disposal. He is at the right hand of
God, in the highest- exaltation possible, and in full possession of a king
dom over the whole creation ; having received a " name above every
name," etc., Phil. ii. 9. Thus is he glorious in his throne, which is at
"the right hand of the * Majesty on high;" glorious in his commis
sion, which is "all power in heaven and earth;" glorious in his name,
a name above every name, — "Lord of lords, and King of kings;" glo
rious in his sceptre, — " a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of his
kingdom ;" glorious in his attendants, — " his chariots are twenty thou
sand, even thousands of angels," among them he rideth on the heavens,
and sendeth out the voice of his strength, attended with ten thousand
times ten thousand of his holy ones; glorious in his subjects, — all
creatures in heaven and in earth, nothing is left that is not put in
subjection to him ; glorious in his way of rule, and the administra
tion of his kingdom, — full of sweetness, efficacy, power, serenity, holi
ness, righteousness, and grace, in and towards his elect, — of terror,
1 Gen. xlix. 10; Numb. xxiv. 17, 19; Ps. ii. 1-9, Ixxxix. 19-25, ex. 1-3; Isa.
xi. 1, 4, xxxii. 1, 2, liii. 12, Ixiii. 1-3; Jer. xxiii. 5, 6; Dan. vii. 13, 14; Luke
ii. 11, xix. 38; John v. 22, 23; Acts ii. 34-36, v. 31; Phil. ii. 9-11; Eph.i. 20-22 ;
Rev. v. 12-14, xix. 16. » Isa. Ixiii. 3. 3 Ps. ex. 6; Rev. xix. 20.
' Heb. i. 3 ; Eph. i. 22; Matt, xxviii. 18 ; Phil. ii. 10, 11 ; Rev. xix. 16; Ps. xiv.,
Ixviii.; Dan. vii. 10

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 71
vengeance, and certain destruction towards the rebellious angels and
men ; glorious in the issue of his kingdom, when every knee shall
bow before' him, and all shall stand before his judgment-seat. And
what a Uttle portion of his glory is it that we have pointed to ! This
is the Beloved of the church, — its head, its husband; this is he with
whom we have communion: but of the whole exaltation of Jesus
Christ I am elsewhere to treat at large.
Having insisted on these generals, for the farther carrying on the
motives to communion with Christ, in the relation mentioned, taken
from his excellencies and perfections, I shall reflect on the description
given of him by the spouse in the Canticles, to this very end and
purpose. Cant. v. 10-16, "My Beloved is white and ruddy, the
chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, his
locks are bushy, and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of
doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. His
cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers : his lips like lilies,
dropping sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings, set
with the beryl : his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.
His legs are as pUlars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold : his
countenance is as Lebanon, exceUent as the cedars. His mouth is
most sweet : yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and
this is my friend, 0 daughters of Jerusalem."
The general description given of him, verse 10, hath been before
considered ; the ensuing particulars are instances to make good the
assertion that he is " the chiefest among ten thousand."
The spouse begins with his head and face, verses 11-13. In his
head, she speaks first in general, unto the substance of it,- — it is " fine
gold;" and then in particular, as to its ornaments, — "his locks are
bushy, and black as a raven."
1. " His head is as the most fine gold," or, " His head gold, solid
gold;" so some; — "made of pure gold;" so others; — _xj?»e'm »-e<Pa*-*i>
say the LXX., retaining part of both the Hebrew words, IB 0^)3,
— "massa auri"1
Two things are eminent in gold, — splendour or glory, and duration.
This is that which the spouse speaks of the head of Christ. His
head is his government, authority, and kingdom. Hence it is said,
" A crown of pure gold was on his head," Ps. xxi. 3 ; and his head
is here said to be gold, because of the crown of gold that adorns it, —
1 So the words are quoted in all editions of this treatise. Fully to develop the
meaning of the allusion, it seems necessary that the whole of the Septuagint ren
dering should be quoted, — KifxX.ii xvrtd %_vo-iov xupaZ,. It is the last word in which
part of both the Hebrew words is said to be retained. There is some difficulty in
fixing the import of 13. Gesenius refers us to Ps. xix. 10, in proof that it means
fine, as distinguished from common gold; from "3, a root not used in Hebrew, but
signifying, in the cognate dialect of the Arabic, to separate, id purify metals. Some

72 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
as the monarchy in Daniel that was most eminent for glory and
duration, is termed a " head of gold," Dan. ii. 38. And these two
things are eminent in the kingdom and authority of Christ : —
(1.) It is a glorious kingdom; he is full of glory and majesty, and
in his majesty he rides " prosperously," Ps. xiv. 3, 4. " His glory is
great in the salvation of God : honour and majesty are laid upon him:
he is made blessed for ever and ever,"" Ps. xxi. 5, 6. I might insist on
particulars, and show that there is not any thing that may render a
kingdom or government glorious, but it is in this of Christ in all its
excellencies. It is a heavenly, a spiritual, a universal, and unshaken
kingdom; all which render- it glorious. But of this, somewhat before.
(2.) It is durable, yea, eternal, — solid gold. " His throne is for ever
and ever," Ps. xiv. 6 ; "of the increase of his government there shall
be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order
ft, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth
even for ever," Isa. ix. 7. " His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,"
Dan. vii. 27, — " a kingdom that shall never be destroyed," chap. ii. 44;
for he must reign until all his enemies be subdued. This is that head
of gold, — the splendour and eternity of his government.
And if you take the head in a natural sense, either the glory of
his Deity is here attended to, or the fulness and excellency of his
wisdom, which the head is the seat of. ¦ The allegory is not to be
straitened, whilst we keep to the analogy of faith.
2. For the ornaments of his head; his locks, they are said to be
"bushy," or curled, "black as a raven." His curled locks are black;
" as a raven," is added by way of illustration of the blackness, not
with any allusion to the nature of the raven. Take the head spoken
of in a political sense : his locks of hair — said to be -curled, as seem
ing to be entangled, but really falling in perfect order and beauty,
as bushy locks — are his thoughts, and counsels, and ways, in the
administration of his kingdom. They are black or dark, because of
their depth and unsearchableness, — as God is said to dwell in thick,
darkness ; and curled or bushy, because of their exact interweavings,
from his infinite wisdom. His thoughts are many as the hairs of the
head, seeming to be perplexed and entangled, but really set in all
comely order, as curled bushy hair; deep and unsearchable, and
connect the term with Uphaz, a district from which gold was procured, Jer. ix. 9i
Schultens derives the word from V_3 to leap, to spring up into notice, in allusion
to the amount of gold discovered on the surface of the earth, through the previous
disintegration of the rock in which it was disseminated, and when a shower has
washed from it the soil by which it was covered. There is coincidence between
the etymology of the word suggested by the Dutch critic, and the fact that the
largest quantities of gold and gold ore have been discovered, not by excavation,
but by the washing of detritus in regions of primary ahd transition strata where
the eruption of igneous rocks has occurred : "As for the earth,  it hath dust
of gold," Job xxviii. 5, 6. — Ed.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 73
dreadful to his enemies, and full of beauty and comeliness to his be
loved. Such are, I say, the thoughts of his heart, the counsels of his
wisdom, in reference to the administrations of his kingdom: — dark,
perplexed, involved, to a carnal eye; in themselves, and to his saints,
deep, manifold, ordered in all things, comely, desirable.
In a natural sense, black and curled locks denote comeliness, and
vigour of youth. The strength and power of Christ, in the execution
of his counsels, in aU his ways, appears glorious and lovely.
The next thing described in him is his eyes. Verse 12, " His eyes
are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk,
and fitly set." The reason-of this allusion is obvious :— doves are ten
der birds, not birds of prey; and of all others they have the most
bright, shining, and piercing eye; their delight also in streams of
water is known. Their being washed in milk, or clear, white, crystal
water, adds to their beauty. And they are here said to be " fitly set j"
that is, in due proportion for beauty and lustre,— as a precious stone
in the foU or fulness of a ring, as the word signifies.
Eyes being for sight, discerning, knowledge, and acquaintance with
the things that are to be seen; -the knowledge, the understanding, the
discerning Spirit of Christ Jesus, are here intended. In the allusion
used four thmgs are ascribed to them: — 1. Tenderness; 2. Purity;
3. Discerning; and, 4. Glory: —
1. The tenderness and compassion of Christ towards his church' is
here intended. He looks on it with the eyes of galless doves; with
tenderness and careful compassion; without anger, fury, or thoughts
of revenge. So is the eye interpreted, Deut. xi. 12, "The eyes
of the Lord thy God are upon that land." Why so? " It is a land
that the Lord thy God careth for;" — careth for it in mercy. So are
the eyes of Christ on us, as the eyes of one that in tenderness
careth for us; that lays out his wisdom, knowledge, and understand
ing, in all tender love, in our behalf. He is the stone, that founda
tion-stone of the church, whereon " are seven eyes," Zech. iii. 9 ;
wherein is a perfection of. wisdom, knowledge, care, and kindness, for
its guidance.
2. Purity; — as washed doves' eyes for purity. This may be taken
either subjectively, for the excellency and immixed cleanness and
purity of his sight and knowledge in himself; or objectively, for his
delighting to behold purity in others. " He is of purer eyes than to
behold iniquity," Hab. i 13. " He hath no pleasure in wickedness;
the foolish shall not stand in his sight," Ps. v. 4, 5. If the righteous
soul of Lot was vexed with seeing the filthy deeds of wicked men,
2 Pet. ii 8, who' yet had eyes of flesh, in which there was a mixture of
impurity; how much more do the pure eyes of our dear Lord Jesus
abominate all the filthiness of sinners ! But herein lies the excel

74 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
lency of his love- to us, that he takes care to take away our filth and
stains, that he may delight in us; and seeing we are so defiled, that
it could no otherwise be done, he wiU do' it by his own blood, Eph.
v. 25-27, " Even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself
for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of
water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it
should be holy, and without blemish." The end of this undertaking
is, that the church might be thus gloriously presented unto himself,
because he is of purer eyes than to behold it with joy and delight in
any other condition. He leaves not his spouse until he says of her,
"Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee," Cant. iv. 7.
Partly, he takes away our spots and stains, by the " renewing of the
Holy Ghost;"1 and wholly adorns us with his own righteousness: and
that because of the purity of his own eyes, which " cannot behold
iniquity," — that he might present us to himself holy.
3. Discerning. He sees as doves, quickly, clearly, thoroughly, — to
the bottom of that which he looks upon. Hence, in another place it
is said that his " eyes are as a flame of fire," Rev. i. 14. And why so?
That the churches might know that he is he "which " searcheth the
reins and hearts," Rev. U 23. He hath discerning eyes, nothing is
hid from him; all things are open and naked before him with whom
we have to do. It is said of him, whilst he was in this world, that
" Jesus knew ah' men, and needed not that any should testify of man ;
for he knew what was in man," John u. 24, 25. His piercing eyes
look through all the thick coverings of hypocrites, and the snow [show]
of pretences that is on them. He sees the inside of aU ; and what
men are there, that they are to him. He sees not as we see, but ponders
the hidden man of the heart. No humble, broken, contrite soul, shall
lose one sigh or groan after him, and communion with him ; no pant
of love or desire is hid from him, — he sees in secret; no glorious per
formance of the most glorious hypocrite will avaU with him,— his
eyes look through all, and the filth of their hearts Ues naked before
him. 4. Beauty and glory are here intended also. Every thing of
Christ is beautiful, for he is "altogether lovely," verse 16, but most
glorious [is he] in his sight and wisdom: he is the wisdom of God's
eternal wisdom itself; his understanding is infinite. What spots and
stains are in all our knowledge ! When it is made perfect, yet it
will still be finite and limited. His is without spot of darkness, with
out foU of limitedness.
Thus, then, is he beautiful and glorious: — his "head is of gold, his
eyes are doves' eyes, washed in milk, and fitly set."
1 Tit. iii. 5.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 75
The next thing insisted on'is his cheeks. Verse 13, " His cheeks
are as a bed of spices ; as sweet flowers," or " towers of perfumes"
[marginal reading], or well-grown floWers. There are three things evi
dently pointed at in these words : — 1. A sweet savour, as from spices,
and flowers, and towers of perfume; 2. Beauty and order, as spices
set in rows or beds, as the words import; 3. Eminency in that word,
as sweet or well-gmwn, great flowers.
These things are in the cheeks of Christ. The Chaldee paraphrast,
who applies this whole song to God's dealings with the people of the
Jews, makes these cheeks of the church's husband to be the two
tables of stone, with the various lines drawn in them ; but that allusion
is strained, as are most of the conjectures of that scholiast.
The cheeks of a man are the seat of comeliness and manlike
courage. The comeliness of Christ, as hath in part been declared, is
• from his fulness of grace in himself for us. His manly courage re
spects the administration of his rule and government, from his fulness
of authority ; as was before declared. This comeliness and courage the
spouse, describing Christ as a beautiful, desirable personage, to show
that spirituaUy he is so, calleth his cheeks; so to make up his parts,
and proportion. And to them doth she ascribe, —
1. A sweet savour, order, and eminency. A sweet savour; as God
is said to smell a sweet savour from the grace and obedience of his
servants (Gen. vUL 21, the Lord smelled a savour of rest from the
sacrifice of Noah), so do the saints smell a sweet savour from his
grace laid up in Christ, Cant. i. 3. It is that which they rest in,
which they dehght in, which they are refreshed with. As the smell
of aromatical spices and flowers pleases the natural sense, refreshes
the spirits, and delights the person ; so do the graces of Christ to his
saints. They please their spiritual sense, they refresh their drooping
spirits, and give delight to their souls. If he be nigh them, they
smell his raiment, as Isaac the raiment of Jacob. They say, " It is
as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed," Gen. xxviL 27;
and their souls are refreshed with it.
2. Order and beauty are as spices set in a garden bed. So are
the graces of Christ. When spices are set in order, any one may
know what is for his use, and take and gather it accordingly. Their
answering, also, one to another makes them beautiful. So are the
graces of Christ; in the gospel they are distinctly and in order set
forth, that sinners by faith may view them, and take from him ac
cording to their necessity. They are ordered for the use of saints in
the promises of the gospel. There is light in him, and life in him,
and power in him, and all consolation in him; — a constellation of
graces, shining with glory and beauty. BeUevers take a view of
them all, see their glory and excellency, but fix especiaUy on that

76 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
which, in the condition wherein they are, is most useful to them.
One takes Ught and joy; another, life and power. By faith and. prayer
do they gather these things in this bed of spices. Not any that
comes to him goes away unrefreshed. What may they npt take,
what may they not gather ? what is it that the poor soul wants ?
Behold, it is here provided, set out in order in the promises of the
gospel; which are as the beds wherein these spices are set for our
use : and on the account hereof is the covenant said to be " ordered
in all things," 2 Sam. xxiU. 5.
3. Eminency. His cheeks are "a tower of perfumes" held up, made
conspicuous, visible, eminent. So it is with the graces of Christ, when
held out and lifted up in the preaching of the gospel. They are a
tower of perfumes, — a sweet savour to God and man.
The next clause of that verse is, " His Ups are like lilies, dropping
sweet-smelling myrrh." Two perfections in things natural are here .
alluded unto : — First, the glory of colour'm. the Ulies, and the sweetness
of savour in the myrrh. The glory and beauty of the lUies in those
countries was such as that our Saviour tells us that " Solomon, in
aU his glory, was not arrayed like one~ of them," Matt. vi. 29 ; and
the savour of myrrh such as, when the Scripture would set forth any
thing to be an excellent savour, it compares it thereunto, Ps. xiv. 8;
and thereof was the sweet and holy ointment chiefly made, Exod.
xxx. 23-25: mention is also made frequently of it in other places,
to the same purpose. It is said of Christ, that " grace was poured
into his lips," Ps. xiv. 2 ; whence men wondered or were amazed— roTg
Xoyoig rrig -/apirog [Lukeiv. 22] — at the words of grace that proceeded
out of his mouth. So that by the lips of Christ, and their dropping
sweet-smelling myrrh, the word of Christ, its savour, excellency, and
Usefulness, is intended. Herein is he excellent and glorious indeed,
surpassing the excellencies of those natural things which yet are most
precious in their kind, — even in the glory, beauty, and usefulness of
his word. Hence they that preach his word to the saving of the souls
of men, are said to be a " sweet savour unto God," 2 Cor. ii. 15 ; and
the savour of the knowledge of God is said to be manifested by them,
verse 14. I might insist on the several properties of myrrh, whereto
the word of Christ is here compared, — its' bitterness in taste, its efii
cacy to preserve from putrefaction, its usefulness in perfumes and
unctions, — and press the allegory in setting out the excellencies of the
word in allusions to them ; but I only insist on generals. This is that
which the Holy Ghost here intends: — the word of Christ is sweet,
savoury, precious unto believers; and they see him to be excellent,
desirable, beautiful, in the precepts, promises, exhortations, ahd the
most bitter threats thereof.
The spouse adds, " His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl"

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESU3 CHRIST. 77
[verse 14]. The word " beryl," in the original, is " Tarshish;"1 which
the Septuagint have retained, not restraining it to any peculiar pre
cious stone ; the onyx, say some; the chrysolite, say others; — any pre
cious stone shining with a sea-green colour, for the word signifies the
sea also. Gold rings set with precious, glittering stones', are both valu
able and desirable, for profit and ornament: so are the hands of Christ;
that is, all his works, — the effects, by the cause. All his works are
glorious; they are all fruits of wisdom, love, ahd bounty. " And his
belly is as bright ivory, overlaid with sapphires." The smoothness and
brightness of ivory, the preciousness and heavenly colour of the
sapphires, are here called in, to give some lustre to the excellency
of Christ." To these is his beUy, or rather his bowels (which takes in
the heart also), compared. It is the inward bowels, and not the out
ward bulk that is signified. Now, to show that by " bowels" in the
Scripture, ascribed either to God or man, affections are intended, is
needless. The tender love, unspeakable affections and kindness, of
Christ to his church and people, is thus set out. What a beautiful
sight is it to the eye, to see pure polished ivory set up and down
with heaps of precious sapphires! How much more glorious are the
tender affections, mercies, and compassion of the Lord Jesus unto
beUevers !
Verse 1 5. The strength of his kingdom, the faithfulness and sta
bility of his promises, — the height and glory of his person in his do
minion, — the sweetness and excellency of communion with him, is set
forth in these words: "His legs are as pUlars of marble set upon
sockets of fine gold ; his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the
cedars : his mouth is most sweet."
When the spouse hath gone thus far in the description of him, she
concludes all in this general assertion : " He is wholly desirable, — alto
gether to be desired or beloved." As if she should have said, — " I
have thus reckoned up some of the perfections of the creatures (things
of most value, price, usefulness, beauty, glory, here below), and com
pared some of the exceUencies of my Beloved unto them. In this
way of allegory I can carry things no higher; I find nothing better
or more desirable to shadow out and to present his loveliness and
desirableness: but, alas! all this comes short of his perfections, beauty,
and comeliness; ' he is all wholly to be desired, to be beloved;'" —
Lovely in his person, — in the glorious aU-sufficiency of his Deity,
1 As Ophir is taken for the gold of Ophir, in Job xxii. 24, so Tarshish, the name
of a city, of which the locality is disputed, is used to denote a precious stone
which was brought from it. It is translated " beryl" in the authorized version,
though nno, in Exod. xxviii. 13, is also rendered by the same term. Some make
'&<£hp, the chrysolite or topaz of the moderns. The word has been thought to
denote the sea, in Isa. xxiii. 10, but on slender ground. — Ed.

78 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
gracious purity and hoUness of his humanity, authority and majesty
love and power.
Lovely in his birth and incarnation; when he waa. rich, for our
sakes becoming poor, — taking part of flesh and blood, because we par
took of the same; being made of a woman, that for us he might be
made under the law, even for our sakes.
Lovely in the whole course of his life, and the Jiore than angeh-
cal holiness and obedience which, in the depth, of poverty and per
secution, he exercised therein; — doing good, receiving evU; blessing,
and being cursed, reviled, reproached, all his days.
Lovely in his death ; yea, therein most lovely to sinners ; — never
more glorious and desirable than when he eame broken, dead, from
the cross. Then had h^ carried all our sins into a land of forgetful
ness; then had he made peace and reconcUiation for us; then had
he procured Ufe and immortality for us.
Lovely in his whole employment, in his great undertaking, — in his
life, death, resurrection, ascension; being a mediator between God
and us, to recover the glory of God's justice, and to save our souls,—
to bring us to an enjoyment of God, who were set at such an infinite
distance from him by sin.
Lovely in the glory and majesty wherewith he is crowned. Now
he is set down at the right hand of the Majesty on high ; where, though
he be terrible to his enemies, yet he is fuU of mercy, love, and com
passion, towards his beloved ones.
Lovely in all those suppUes of grace and consolations, in all
the dispensations of his Holy Spirit, whereof his saints are made
partakers. Lovely in all the tender care, power, and wisdom, which he exer
cises in the protection, safe-guarding, and delivery of his church and
people, in the midst of all the oppositions and persecutions whereunto
they are exposed.
Lovely in all his ordinances, and the whole of that spiritually
glorious worship which he hath appointed to his people, whereby
they draw nigh and have communion with him and his Father.
Lovely and glorious in the vengeance he taketh, and will finaUy
execute, upon the stubborn enemies of himself and his people.
Lovely in the pardon he hath purchased and doth dispense, — in the
reconcUiation he hath established, — in the grace he communicates, —
in the consolations he doth administer, — in the peace and joy he gives
his saints, — in his assured preservation of them unto glory.
What shall I say? there is no end of his exceUencies and desirable
ness; — "He is altogether lovely. This is our beloved, and this is
our friend, 0 daughters of Jerusalem."

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 79

Digression II.
All solid wisdom laid up in Christ — True wisdom, wherein it consists — Knowledge
of God, in Christ only to be obtained — What of God may be known by his
works — Some properties of God not discovered but in Christ only ; love,
merey — Others not fully but in him ; as vindictive justice, patience, .wisdom,
all-sufficiency — No property of God savingly known but in Christ — What is
required to a saving knowledge of the properties of God — No true knowledge
of ourselves but in Christ — Knowledge of ourselves, wherein it consisteth —
Knowledge of sin, how to be had in Christ ; also of righteousness and of
judgment — -The wisdom of walking with God hid in Christ — JVhat is required
thereunto — Other pretenders to the title of wisdom examined and rejected —
Christ alone exalted.
A SECOND consideration of the excellencies of Christ, serving to
endear the hearts of them who stand with him in the relation in
sisted on, arises from that which, in the mistaken apprehension of it,
is the great darling of men, and in its true notion the great aim of
the saints; which is wisdom and knowledge. Let it be evinced that
all true and solid knowledge is laid up in, and is only to be attained
from and by, the Lord Jesus Christ ; and the hearts of men, if they
are but true to themselves and their most predominate principles,
must needs be engaged to him. This is the great design of all men,
taken off from professed slavery to the world, and the pursuit of
sensual, licentious courses,— that they maybe wise : and what ways the
generality of men' engage in for the compassing of that end- shall be
afterward considered. To the glory and honour of our dear Lord
Jesus Christ, and the establishment of our hearts in communion with
him, the design of this digression is to evince that all wisdom is laid
up in him, and that from him alone it is to be obtained.
1 Cor. i. 24, the Holy Ghost tells us that " Christ is the power
of God, and the wisdom of God : " not the essential Wisdom of God,
as he is the eternal Son of the Father (upon which accourit he is
called "Wisdom" in the Proverbs, chap. vUi. 22, 23); but as he is cruci
fied, verse 23. As he is crucified, so he is the wisdom of God; that
is, all that wisdom which God layeth forth for the discovery and
manifestation of himself, and for the saving of sinners, which makes
foolish all the wisdom of the world, — that is all in Christ crucified;
held out in him, by him, and to be obtained only from him. And
thereby in him do we see the glory of God, 2 Cor. ni. 18. For he
is not only said to he " the wisdom of God," but also to be " made
unto us wisdom," 1 Cor. i. 30. He is made, not by creation, but
ordination and appointment, wisdom unto us; not only by teaching
us wisdom (by a metonymy of the effect for the cause), as he is, the

80 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
great prophet of his church, but also because by the knowing of him
we become acquainted with the wisdom of God, — which is our wisdom ;
which is a metonymy of the adjunct. This, however verily promised,
is thus only to be had. The sum of what is contended for is asserted
in terms, Col. U. 3, " In him are hid aU the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge." There are two things that might seem to have some colour in
claiming a title and interest in this business: — 1. Civil wisdom and
prudence, for the management of affairs; 2. Ability oi learning and
literature ; — but God rejecteth both these, as of ho use at aU to the end
and intent of true wisdom indeed. There is in the world that which
is called " understanding ; " but it comes to nothing. There is that
which is called " wisdom ;" but it is turned into foUy, 1 Cor. i ] 9, 20,
" God brings to nothing the understanding of the prudent, and makes
foolish this wisdom of the world." And if there be neither wisdom
nor knowledge (as doubtless there is not), without the knowledge of
God, Jer. viii. 9, it is all shut up in the Lord Jesus Christ : " No man
hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the
bosom of the Father, he hath revealed him." He is not seen at
another time, John i. 18, nor known upon any other account, but
only the revelation of the Son. He hath manifested him from his
own bosom ; and therefore, verse 9, it is said that he is " the true
Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world," — the
true Light, which hath it in himself: and none hath any but from him ;
and all have it who come unto him. He who doth not so, is in
darkness. The sum of all true wisdom and knowledge may be reduced to
these three heads: — I. The knowledge of God, his nature and his
properties. II. The knowledge of ourselves in reference to the will
of God concerning us. III. SkiU to walk in communion with God : —
I. The knowledge of the works pf Gpd, and the chief end cf all,
doth necessarUy attend these. 1. In these three is summed up all true
wisdom and knowledge ; and, 2,— Not any of them is to any purpose to
be obtained, or is manifested, but only in and by the Lord Christ : —
1. God, by the work of the creation, by the creation itself, did re
veal himself in many of his properties unto his creatures capable of
his knowledge; — his power, his goodness, his wisdom, his all-sufficiency,
are thereby known. This the apostle asserts, Rom. i 19-21. Verse
19, he calls it rb ywsrto rou 0eoD, — verse 20, that is, his eternal
power and Godhead; and verse 21, a knowing of God: and *aU this
by the creation. But yet there are some properties of God which
all the works of creation cannot in any measure reveal or make
1 'Etu oZt ro yito/tsvov o xoo-ftog iarit o _v/tvrxg, a rovrat ^tai_m ra.-_x xt xxovffxt Xal
avrov, aig i/ci -rixoinxiv I @sog — Plotin.

• OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 81
known; — as his patience, long-suffering, and forbearance. For all
things being made ^ood, there could be no place for the exercise of
any of these properties, or manifestation of them. The whole fabric
of heaven and earth considered in itself, as at first created, will not
discover any such thing as patience and forbearance in God;a which
yet are eminent properties of his nature, as himself proclaims and
declares, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7.
Wherefore the Lord goes farther; and by the works of his provi
dence, in preserving and ruling the world which he made, discovers
and reveals these properties also. For whereas by cursing the earth,
and filling all the elements oftentimes with signs of his anger and
indignation, he hath, as the apostle tells us, Rom. i. 18, "revealed
from heaven his wrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men;" yet not proceeding immediately to destroy aU things, he
hath manifested his patience and forbearance to all. This Paul, Acts
xiv. 16, 17, tells us: "He suffered all nations to walk in their own
ways; yet he left not himself without witness, in that he did good,
and gave rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts
with food and gladness." A large account of his goodness and wis
dom herein the psalmist gives us, Ps. civ. throughout. By these
ways he bare witness to his own goodness and patience ; and so it is
said, " He endures with much long-suffering," etc., Rom. ix. 22. But
now, here all the world is at a stand; by all this they have but an
obscure glimpse of God, and see not so much as his back parts. Moses
saw not that, untU he was put into 3the rock; and that rock was
Christ. There are some of the most eminent and glorious properties
of God (I mean, in the manifestation whereof he wUl be most glo
rious ; otherwise his properties are not to be compared) that there is
not the least gUmpse to be attained of out of the Lord Christ, but
only by and in him; and some that comparatively we have no light
of but in him; and of all the rest no true Ught but by him: —
(1.) Of the first sort, whereof not the least guess and imagination
can enter into the heart of man but only by Christ, are love and
pardoning mercy: —
[1.] Love ; I mean love unto sinners. Without this, man is of
all creatures most miserable; and there is not the least gUmpse of it
that can possibly be discovered but in Christ. The Holy Ghost says,
1 Gen. i. 31.
1 " Quamvis speciali cura atque indulgentia Dei, populum Israeliticum constat
electum, omnesque alias nationes suas vias ingredi, hoc est, secundum propriam
permissas sunt vivere voluntatem, non ita tamen se aeterna Creatoris bonitas ab
illis hominibus avertit, ut eos ad cognoscendum atque metuendum nullis signifi-
cationibus admoneret." — Prosp. de Vocat. Gent. 2, 4. " Coelum et terra, et omnia
quae in eis sunt, ecce undique mihi dicunt ut te amem, nee cessant dicere omni
bus, ut sint inexcusabiles." — August. Confess., lib. x. cap. 6.
8 Exod. xxxiii. 22; 1 Cor. x. 4.
VOL. II. 6

82 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
1 John iv. 8, 16, "God is love;" that is, not only of a loving and
tender nature, but one that wUl exercise himself in a dispensation of
his love, eternal love, towards us, — one that hath purposes of love for
us from of old, and wUl fulfil them all towards us in due season. But
how is this demonstrated? how may we attain an acquaintance with it?
He tells us, verse 9, " In this was manifested the love of God, because
that God sent, his only begotten Son into the world, that we might
live through him." This is the only discovery that God hath made
of any such property in his nature, or of any thought of exercising it
towards sinners, — in that he hath sent Jesus Christ into the world, that
we might live by him. Where now is the wise, where is the scribe,
where is the disputer of this world, with all their wisdom? Their
voice must be that of -the hypocrites in Zion, Isa. xxxiu. 14, 15. That
wisdom which cannot teach me that God is love, shall ever pass for
folly. Let men go to the sun, moon, and stars, to showers of rain
and fruitful seasons, and answer truly what by them they learn
hereof. Let them not think themselves wiser or better than those
that went before them, who, to a man, got nothing by them, but
being left inexcusable.
[2.] Pardoning mercy, or grace. Without this, even his love would
be fruitless. What discovery may be made of this by a sinful man,
may be seen in the father of us all; who, when he had sinned, had
no reserve for mercy, but hid himself, Gen. hi 8. He did it Ei'O Ol*1?,
when the -wind did but a little blow at the presence of God ; and he
did it foolishly, thinking to "hide himself among trees!" Ps. cxxxix.
7, 8. " The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus-'
Christ," John i 17, — grace in the truth and substance. Pardoning
mercy, that comes by Christ alone ; that pardoning mercy which is
manifested in the gospel, and wherein God wiU be glorified to aU
eternity, Eph. i. 6. I mean not that general mercy, that veUeity of
acceptance which some put their hopes in : 1 that irdhc (which to ascribe
unto God is the greatest dishonour that can be done him) shines not
with one ray out of Christ; it is whoUy treasured up in him, and re
vealed by him. Pardoning mercy is God's free, gracious acceptance
of a sinner upon satisfaction made to his justice in the blood of Jesus ;
nor is any discovery of it, but as relating to the satisfaction of justice,
consistent with the glory of God. It is a mercy of inconceivable conde
scension in forgiveness, tempered with exact justice and severity. Rom
Ui. 25, God is said " to set forth Christ to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness in the remission of sins ; "
l "Ectw S« $Xtog, Xuorti rig i-r) Qxtvoftivtu xxxtf <p6xt>rixeg xx) Xv-xn$ rov xvx_iov rvy%x-
mv — Arist. 2. Rhet. " Quid autem misericordia, nisi aliense miserisa quaedam in
nostro corde compassio; quft alicui, si possumus, subvenire compellimur! " — August.
de Civit. Dei, lib. ix. cap. 5.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 83
^s righteousness is also manifested in the business of forgiveness of
sins: and therefore it is everywhere said to be wholly in Christ, Eph
i. 7. So that this gospel grace and pardoning mercy is alone pur
chased by him, and revealed in him. And this was the main end
of all typical institutions, — to manifest that remission and forgiveness
is wholly wrapped up in the Lord Christ, and that out of him there
is not the least conjecture to be made of it, nor the least morsel to
be tasted. Had not God set forth2 the Lord Christ, all the angels
in heaven and men on earth could not have apprehended that there
had been any such thing in the nature of God as this grace of par
doning mercy. The apostle asserts the full manifestation as well as
the exercise of this mercy to be in Christ only, Tit. Ui. 4, 5, "After
that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man ap
peared," — namely, in the sending of Christ, and the declaration of
bim in the gospel. Then was this pardoning mercy and salvation not
by works discovered.
And these are of those properties of God whereby he will be known,
whereof there is not the least glimpse to be obtained but by and in
Christ; and whoever knows him not by these, knows him not at all.
They know an idol, and not the only true God. He that hath not
the Son, the same hath not the Father, 1 John ii 23 ; and not to
have God as a Father, is not to have him at all; and he is known as
a Father only as he is love, and full of pardoning mercy in Christ.
How this is to be had the Holy Ghost tells us, 1 John v. 20, " The
Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding, that we may
know him that is true." By him alone we have our understanding
to know him that is true. Now, these properties of God Christ
revealeth in his doctrine, in the revelation he makes of God and his
will, as the great prophet of the church, John xvU. 6. And on this
account the knowledge of them is exposed to all, with an evidence
unspeakably surmounting that which is given by the creation to his
eternal power and Godhead. But the life of this knowledge lies in
an acquaintance with his person, wherein the express image and beams
of this glory of his Father do shine forth, Heb. i. 3; pf which before.
(2.) There are other properties of God which, though also otherwise
discovered, yet are so clearly, eminently, and savingly only in Jesus
Christ; as, — [1.] His vindictive justice in punishing sin ; [2.] His
patience, forbearance, and long-suffering towards sinners; [3.] His
wisdom, in managing things for his own glory; [4.] His all-suffi
ciency, in himself and unto others. All these, though they may re
ceive some lower and inferior manifestations out of Christ, yet they
clearly shine only in him; so as that it may be our wisdom to be
acquainted with them.
" 'K.xrxxxvyfirxi tXtog x_itioig, James ii. 13. 2 Xl^oihro.

84 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
[1.] His vindictive justice. God hath, indeed, many ways mani
fested his indignation and anger against sin;" so that men cannot but
know that it is " the judgment of God, that they which commit such
things are worthy pf death," Rom. i. 32. He hath in the law threat
ened to kindle a fire in his anger that shall burn to the very heart
of hell. And even in many providential dispensations, " his wrath is
revealed from heaven agamst all the ungodliness of men," Rom. i 18.
So that men must say that he is a God oi judgment. And he that
shall but consider that the angels for sin were cast from heaven, shut
up under chains of everlasting darkness unto the judgment of the
great day (the1 rumour whereof seems to have been spread among
, the Gentiles, whence the poet makes his Jupiter threaten the infe
rior rebellious deities with that punishment) ; and how Sodom,and
Gomorrah were condemned with an overthrow, and burned into ashes,
that they might be "examples unto those that should after Uve
ungodly," 2 Pet. U. 6; cannot but discover much of God's vindictive
justice and his anger against sin. But far more clear doth this shine
into us in the Lord Christ: —
1st. In him God hath manifested the naturalness of this right
eousness unto him, in that it was impossible that it should be diverted
from sinners without the interposing of a propitiation. Tho'se who
lay the necessity of satisfaction merely upon the account of a free act
and determination of the wUl of God, leave, to my apprehension, no
just and indispensable3 foundation for the death of Christ, but lay it
upon a supposition of that which might have been otherwise. But
plainly, God, in that he3 spared not his only Son, but made his soul
an offering for sin, and would admit of no atonement but in his blood,
hath abundantly manifested that it is of necessity to him (his holiness
and righteousness requiring it) to render indignation, wrath, tribula
tion, and anguish unto sin. And the knowledge of this naturalness
pi vindictive justice, with the necessity of its execution on supposition
of sin, is the only true and useful knowledge of it. To look upon' it
as that which God may exercise or forbear, makes his justice not a
property of his nature, but a free act of his will; and a will to punish
where one may do otherwise without injustice, is rather Ul-wiU than
justice. 2dly. In the penalty inflicted on Christ for sin, this justice is far
more gloriously manifested than otherwise. To see, indeed, a world,
1 "H /tit \Xoiv piipaj ig Txgrxgov rugeivra,
TSjXs ftxX1, $%t fixdto-rov viro xfot'og ian Pti_lSont,
"Ev0x o-ih'fyuxi rt -xvXxi xx) %xXxlog obVog,
Too-o-ov ivies' 'Aiiw, h'rov ii_xtog io-r iuri yx'ms  Homer, H. (. 13-16.
> Vid. Diatrib. de Just. Divin. [A treatise by Owen, which will be found in
vol. x. of this edition of his works.]
3 Rom. viii. 32; Isa. liii. 10; Heb. x. 7-9; Rom. i. 32; 2 Thess. i. 5, 6; Ps.
v. 5, 6; Hab. i. 13; Ps. cxix. 137.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 85
made1 good and beautiful, wrapped up in wrath and curses, clothed
with thorns and briers; to see the whole beautiful creation made
subject to vanity, given up to the bondage of corruption; to hear it
groan in pain under that burden; to consider legions of angels, most
glorious and immortal creatures, cast down into hell, bound with
chains of darkness, and reserved for a more dreadful judgment for
one sin ; to view the ocean of the blood of souls spilt to eternity on
this account, — will give some insight into this thing. But what is
all this to that view of it which may be had by a spiritual eye in the
Lord Christ? All these things are worms, and of no value in com
parison of him. To see him who is the8 wisdom of God, and the
power of God, always3 beloved of the Father; to see him, I say, fear,4
and tremble, and bow, and sweat, and pray, and die ; to see him lifted
up upon the cross, the earth trembling under him, as if unable to
bear his weight ; and the heavens darkened over him, as if shut against
his cry; and himself hanging between both, as if refused by both; and
all this because our sins did meet upon him ; — this of all things doth
most abundantly manifest the severity of God's vindictive justice.
Here, or nowhere, is it to be learned.
[2.] His patience, forbearance, and long-suffering towards sinners.
There are many gUmpses of the patience of God shining out in the
works of his providence ; but all exceedingly beneath that discovery
of it which we have in Christ, especially in these three things : —
1st. The manner of its discovery. This, indeed, is evident to all,
that God doth not ordinarily immediately punish men upon their
offences. It may be learned from his constant way in governing the
world : notwithstanding aU provocations, yet he doth 6good to men ;
causing his sun to shine upon them, sending them rain and fruitful
seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness. Whence it was easy
for them to conclude that there was in him abundance of goodness and
forbearance. But all this is yet in much darkness, being the exurgency
of men's reasonings from their observations ; yea, the management of
it [God's patience] hath been such as that it hath proved a snare almost
universaUy unto them 'towards whom it hath been exercised, Eccles.
viii. 1 1, as well as a temptation to them who have looked on, Job
xxi. 7; Ps. Ixxiii. 2—4, etc.; Jer. xii 1; Hab. i. 13. The discovery of
it in Christ is utterly of another nature. In him the very nature of
God is discovered to be love and kindness ; and that he will exercise
the same to sinners, he hath promised, sworn,, and solemnly engaged
himself by covenant. And that we may not hesitate about the aim
1 Gen. iii. 17-19, viii. 21; Rom. viii. 21, 22; 2 Pet. ii. 4-6, iii. 6; Jude 6, 7.
3 1 Cor. i. 30. 3 Matt. iii. 17. * Matt. xxvi. 37, 38; Mark xiv. 33;
Luke xxii. 43, 44; Heb. v. 7; Matt, xxvii. 51; Mark xv. 33, 34; Isa. liii. 6.
4 Matt. v. 45; Acts xiv. 17, 18.

86 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
which he hath herein, there is a stable bottom and foundation of act
ing suitably to those gracious properties of his nature held forth, —
namely, the reconciliation and atonement that is made in the blood
of Christ. Whatever discovery were made of the patience and lenity
of God unto us, yet if it were not withal revealed that the other pro
perties of God, as his justice and revenge for sin, had thefr actings
also assigned to them to the full, there could be little consolation
gathered from the former. And therefore, though God may teach
men his goodness and forbearance, by sending them rain and fruitful
seasons, yet withal at the same time, upon all occasions, " revealing
his wrath from heaven agamst the ungodUness of men," Rom. L 18,
it is impossible that they should do any thing but miserably fluctuate
and tremble at the event of these dispensations; and yet this is the
best that men can have out of Christ, the utmost they can attain
unto. With the present possession of good things administered in this
patience, men might, and did for a season, take up their thoughts and
satiate themselves; but yet they were not in the least deUvered from
the1 bondage they were in by reason of death, and the darkness
attending it. The law reveals no patience or forbearance in God; it
speaks, as to the issue of transgressions, nothing but sword and fire,
had not God interposed by an act of sovereignty. But now, as was
said, with that revelation of forbearance, which we have in Christ,
there is also a discovery of the satisfaction of his justice and wrath
against sin ; so that we need not fear any actings from them to inter
fere with the works of his patience, which are so sweet unto us.
Hence God is said to be " in Christ, reconcUing the world to him
self," 2 Cor. v. 19 ; manifesting himself in him as one that hath now
no more to do for the manifestation of all his attributes, — that is, for
the glorifying of himseff, — but only to forbear, reconcUe, and pardon
sin in him.
2dly. In the nature of it. What is there in that forbearance which
out of Christ is revealed? Merely a not immediate punishing upon
the2 offence, and, withal, giving and continuing temporal mercies;
such things as men are prone to abuse, and may perish with their
bosoms full of them to eternity. That which lies hid in Christ, and
is revealed from him, is full of love, sweetness, tenderness, kindness,
grace. It is the Lord's waiting to be gracious to sinners ; waiting for
an advantage to show love and kindness, for the most eminent en
dearing of a soul unto himself, Isa. xxx. 18, " Therefore wiU the
' " Animula vagula, blandula,
Hospes comesque corporis,
Qua) nunc abibis in loca
Pallida, rigida, nudula I
Nee ut soles dabisjocos." — Had. Imp.
» Rom. ii. 4, 5, ix. 22.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 87
Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you; and therefore wiU he
be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you." Neither is there
any revelation of God that the soul finds more sweetness in than this.
When it [one's soul] is experimentally convinced that God from time
to time hath passed by many, innumerable iniquities, he is astonished
to think that God should do so ; and admires that he did not take the
advantage of his provocations to cast him out of his presence. He finds
that, with infinite wisdom, in all long-suffering, he hath managed all
his dispensations towards him to recover him from the power of the
devil, to rebuke and chasten his spirit for sin, to endear him unto
himself; — there is, I say, nothing of greater sweetness to the soul than .
this: and therefore the apostle says, Rom. iii. 25, that all is " through
the forbearance of God." God makes way for complete forgiveness
of sins through this his forbearance; which the, other doth not.
3dly. They differ in their ends and aims. What is the aim and
design of God in the dispensation of that forbearance which is mani
fested and may be discovered out of Christ? The apostle tells us,
Rom. ix. 22, " What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make
his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of
wrath fitted for destruction?" It was but to leave them inexcusable,
that his power and wrath against sin might be manifested in their
destruction. And therefore he calls it " a suffering of them to walk in
their own ways," Acts xiv. 16 ; which elsewhere he holds out as a most
dreadful judgment, — to wit, in respect of that issue whereto it wiU cer
tainly come; as Ps. lxxxL 12, "I gave them up unto their own hearts'
lusts, and they walked in their own counsels : " which is as dreadful a1
condition as a creature is capable of falUng into in this world. And Acts
xvU. 30, he calls it a " winking at the sins of their ignorance;" as it
were taking no care nor thought of them in their dark condition, as
it appears by the antithesis, " But now he commandeth all men every
where to repent." He did not take so much notice of them then as
to command them to repent, by any clear revelation of his mind and
wiU. And therefore the exhortation of the apostle, Rom. ii. 4,
" Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-
suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to re
pentance?" is spoken to the Jews, who had advantages to learn the
natural tendency of that goodness and forbearance which God exer
cises in Christ; which, indeed, leads to repentance: or else he doth in
general intimate that, in very reason, men ought to make another
use of those things than usually they do, and which he chargeth them
i " Eos, quibus iudulgere videtur, quibus parcere, molles Venturis malis (Deus)
format." — Seneca, " De Providential" cap.iv. — " Pro dii immortales! cur interdum
in hominum sceleribus maximis, aut connivetis, aut praesentis fraudis poenas in
diem reservatis V — Cic. pro Cash 24.

88 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
withal, verse 5, " But after thy hardness and impenitent heart," etc.
At1 best, then, the- patience of God unto men out of Christ, by rea
son of their own incorrigible stubbornness, proves but Uke the waters
of the river Phasis, that are sweet at the top and bitter in the bot
tom; they swim for a whUe in the sweet and good things of this Ufe,
Luke xvi. 25 ; wherewith being fiUed, they sink to the depth of all
bitterness. But now, evidently and directly, the end of that patience and for
bearance of God which is exercised in Christ, and discovered in him
to us, is the saving and bringing unto God those towards whom he
is pleased to exercise them. And therefore Peter teUs you, 2 Pet.
iii. 9, that he is " long-suffering to us-ward, not wUUng that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance;" — that is, aU ,
us towards whom he exercises forbearance ; for that is the end of it,
that his will concerning our repentance and salvation may be accom
plished. And the nature of it, with its end, is weU expressed, Isa. liv. 9,
" This is as the waters of Noah unto me : for as I have sworn that
the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn
that I would not be wroth," etc. It is God's taking a course, in his
infinite wisdom and goodness, that we shaU not be destroyed not
withstanding our sins; and therefore, Rom. xv. 5, these two things
are laid together in God, as coming togethet from him, " The God of
patience and consolation:" his patience is a matter of the greates*
consolation. And this is another property of God, which, though it
may break forth in some rays, to some ends and purposes, in other
things, yet the treasures of it are hid in Christ; and none is acquainted
with it, unto any spiritual advantage, that learns it not in him.
[3.] His wisdom, his infinite wisdom, in managing things for his
own glory, and the good of them towards whom he hath thoughts of
love. The Lord, indeed, hath laid out and manifested infinite wis
dom3 in his works of creation, providence, and governing of his world:
in wisdom hath he made all his creatures. " How manifold are his
works! in wisdom hath he made them all; the earth is fuU of his
riches," Ps. civ. 24. So in his providence, his supportment and guid*
ance of aU things, in order to one another, and his own glory, unto
the ends appointed for them; for all these things " come forth from
the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in
working," Isa. xxvUi. 29. His law also is fpr ever to be admired, for
the excellency of the wisdom therein, Deut. iv. 7, 8. But yet there is
that which Paul is astonished at, and wherein God will for ever be
1 K«™ fth rov iorifpiotrog fix\f/xvrx, yXvxv ri SS«i{ xti/tKirxo-Sxr ti Si tit jiitog rig xxirixtt
rriv xxXvrtt, &X/tv_ov. — Arrian. vi^ivr. Eu_sivov -jr'ovrov.
2 " Si amabilis est sapientia cunj cognitione rerum conditarum, quam amabilis
est sapientia, quae condidit omnia ex nihilo ? " — August. Lib. Meditat., c. xv"j.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 89
exalted, which he calls, " The depth of the riches of the wisdom and
knowledge of God," Rom. xi. 33 ; — that is only hid in and revealed by
Christ. Hence, as he is said to be " the1 wisdom of God," and to be
"made unto us wisdom ;" so the design of God, which is carried along in
him, and revealed in the gospel, is called " the wisdom of G°d," and a
"mystery; even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the
world was; which none, of the princes of this world knew," 1 Cor. U.
7, 8. Eph. iii. 10, it is called, " The manifold wisdom of God;" and
to discover the depth and riches of this wisdom, he tells us in that
verse that it is such, that principalities and powers, that very angels
themselves, could not in the least measure get any acquaintance with
it, untU God, by gathering of a church of sinners, did actually discover
it. Hence Peter informs us, that they who are so well acquainted
with aU the works of God, do yet bow down and desire with earnest
ness to look into these things (the things of the wisdom of God in
the gospel), 1 Pet. i. 12. It asks a man much wisdom to make a
curious work, fabric, and building; but if one shall come and deface
it, to raise up the same buUding to more beauty and glory than ever,
this is excellence of wisdom indeed. God in the beginning made
all things good, glorious, and beautiful. When all things had an
innocency and beauty, the clear3 impress of his wisdom and goodness
upon them, they were very glorious; especiaUy man, who was made
for his special glory. Now, all this beauty was defaced by sin, and
the whole3 creation rolled up in darkness, wrath, curses, confusion,
and the great praise of God buried in the heaps of it. Man, especiaUy,
was utterly lost, and came short of the glory of God, for which he
was created, Rom. Ui. 23. Here, now, doth the depth of the riches
of the wisdom and knowledge of God open itself. A design in Christ
shines out from his bosom, that was lodged there from eternity, to
recover things to such an estate as shaU be exceedingly to the advan
tage of his glory, infinitely above what at first appeared, and for the
putting of sinners into inconceivably a better condition than they
were in before the entrance of sin. He appears now glorious; he is
known to be a God 4pardoning iniquity and sin, and advances ihe
riches of his grace : which was his design, Eph. i. 6. He hath infinitely
vindicated his justice also, in the face of men, angels, and devUs, in
setting forth his Son for a "propitiation. It is also to our advantage;
we are more fully established in his favour, and are carried on towards
a more exceeding 6 weight of glory than formerly was revealed. Hence
was that ejaculation of one of the ancients, "0 felix culpa, quas talem
meruit redemptorem ! " Thus Paul teUs us, " Great is the mystery
of godUness," 1 Tim. in. 16, and that " without controversy." We
1 1 Cor. i. 20, 30. - » Gen. i. 31. s Gen. iii, 17, 18; Rom. i. 18.
* Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19, xxxiv. 6, 7. 5 Rom. iii. 24, 25. « 2 Cor. iv. 17.

90 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
receive " grace for grace;"1 — for that grace lost in Adam, better grace
in Christ. Confessedly, this is a depth of wisdom indeed. And of the
love of Christ to his church, and his union with it, to cany on this
business, " This is a great mystery," Eph. v. 32, says the apostle ; great
wisdom lies herein.
So, then, this also is hid in Christ, — the great and unspeakable riches
of the wisdom of God, in pardoning sin, saving sinners, satisfying
justice, fulfilling the law, repairing his own honour, and providing
for us a more exceeding weight of glory ; and aU this out of such a
condition as wherein it was impossible that it should enter into the
hearts of angels or men how ever the glory of God should be repaired,
and one sinning creature delivered from everlasting ruin. Hence it
is said, that at the last day God " shaU be glorified in his saints, and
admired in all them that beUeve," 2 Thess. i 10. It shaU be an ad
mirable thing, and God shaU be for ever glorious in it, even in the
bringing of believers to himself. To save sinners through beUeving,
shall be found to be a far more admirable work than to create the
world of nothing.
[4.] His all-sufficiency Ls the last of this sort that I shall name.
God's aU-sufficiency in himself is his absolute and universal per
fection, whereby nothing is wanting in him, nothing to him: no
accession can be made to his fulness, no decrease or wasting can
happen thereunto. There is also in him an aU-sufficiehcy for others;
which is his power to impart and communicate his goodness and
himself so to them as to satisfy and fill them, in their utmost capa
city, with whatever is good and desirable to them. For the first
of these, — his aU-sufficiency for the communication of his goodness,
that is, in the outward effect of it, — God abundantly manifested in the
creation, in that he made aU things good, aU things perfect; that is,
to whom nothing was wanting in their own kind; — he put a stamp
of his own goodness upon them all But now for the latter, — his
giving himself as an aU-sufficient God, to be enjoyed by the crea
tures, to hold out all that is in him for ihe satiating and making
them blessed, — that is alone discovered by and in Christ. In him he
is a Father, a God in covenant, wherein he hath promised to lay out
himself for them; in him hath he promised to give himself into their
everlasting fruition, as their exceeding great reward.
And so I have insisted on the second sort of properties in God,
whereof, though we have some obscure gUmpse in other things, yet
the clear knowledge of them, and acquaintance with them, is only
td be had in the Lord Christ.
That which remaineth is, briefly to declare that not any of the
properties of God whatever can be known, savingly and to consola-
' John i. 16.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 91
tion, but only in him; and so, consequently, aU the wisdom of the
knowledge of God is hid in him alone, and from him to be obtained.
2. There is no saving knowledge of any property of God, nor such
as brings consolation, but what alone is to be had in Christ Jesus,
being laid up in him, and manifested by him. Some eye the justice
of God, and know that this is his righteousness, ;: that they which
do such things" (as sin) " are worthy of death," Rom. i 32. But this
is to no other end but to make them cry, " Who amongst us shall
dwell with the devouring fire?" Isa. xxxiu 14. Others fix upon his
patience, goodness, mercy, forbearance; but it doth not at aU lead
them to repentance ; but " they despise the riches of his goodness,
and after their hardness and impenitent hearts treasure up unto them
selves wrath against the day of wrath," Rom". U. 4, 5. Others, by the
very works of creation and providence, come to know " his eternal
power and Godhead ; but they glorify him not as God, nor are thank
ful, but become vain in their imagination, and their foolish hearts
are darkened," Rom. i 20. Whatever discovery men have of truth.
out of Christ, they " hold it captive under unrighteousness," verse 18.
Hence Jude tells us, verse 10, that " in what they know naturally,
as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves."
That we may have a saving knowledge of the properties of God,
attended with consolation, these three things are required: — (1.) That
God hath manifested the glory of them all in a way of doing good
unto us. (2.) That he wUl yet exercise and lay them out to the ut
most in our behalf. (3.) That, being so manifested and exercised,
they are fit and powerful to bring us to ihe everlasting fruition of
himself; which is our blessedness. Now, aU these three lie hid in
Christ ; and the least gUmpse of them out of him is not to be
attained. (1.) This is to be received, that God hath actually manifested the
glory of all his attributes in a way of doing us good. What wiU it
avail our souls, what comfort wiU it bring unto us, what endearment
will it put upon our hearts unto God, to know that he is infinitely
righteous, just, and holy, unchangeably true and faithful, if we know
not how he may preserve the glory of his justice and faithfulness in
his comminations and threatenings, but only in our ruin and destruc
tion? if we can from thence only say it is a righteous thing with him
to recompense tribulation unto us for our iniquities? What fruit of
this consideration had Adam in the garden? Gen. Ui, What sweet
ness, what encouragement, is there in knowing that he is patient and
full of forbearance, if the glory of these is to be exalted in enduring
the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction? nay, what will it avaU
us to hear him proclaim himself " The Lord, The Lord God,1 mer-
1 Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7.

92 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
ciful and gracious, abundant in goodness and truth," yet, withal, that
he wiU " by no means clear the guUty," — so shutting up the exercise
of all his other properties towards us, upon the account of our iniquity ?
Doubtless, not at all. Under this naked consideration of the proper
ties of God, justice will make men fly and hide, Gen. Ui.; Isa. U. 21,
xxxiii. 15,16 ; — patience, render them obdurate, Eccles. vUi. 1 1 . HoU
ness utterly deters them from all thoughts of approach unto hun,
John xxiv. 19. What reUef have we from thoughts of his immensity
and omnipresence, if we have cause only to contrive how to fly from
him (Ps. cxxxix. 11, 12), if we have no pledge of his gracious presence
with us? This is that which brings salvation, when we shall see that
God hath glorified all his properties in a way of doing us good. Now,
this he hath done in Jesus Christ. In him hath he made his justice
glorious, in making all our iniquities to1 meet upon him, causing him
to bear them all, as the scape-goat in the wUderness; not sparing
him, but giving him up to death for us aU-; — sd exalting his justice
and indignation agamst sin in a way of freeing us from the condem
nation of it, Rom. iu. 25, viu. 33, 34. In him hath he made his truth
glorious, and his faithfulness, in the exact accomplishment of all his
absolute threatenings and promises. That fountain-threat and com
mination whence all others flow, Gen. U. 17, " In the day thou eatest
thereof thou shalt die the death ;" seconded with a curse, Deut. xxviL
26, " Cursed is every one that continueth not," etc. [GaL Ui. 10] — is
in him accomplished, fulfilled, and the truth of God in them laid in a
way to our good. He, by the grace of God, tasted death for us, Heb.
U. 9 ; and so delivered us who were subject to death, verse 15 ; and he
hath fulfilled the curse, by being made a curse for us, Gal. Ui. 13.
So that in his very threatenings his truth is made glorious in a way
to our good. And for his promises, " They are aU yea, and in him
Amen, unto the glory of God by us," 2 Cor. i 20. And for his
mercy, goodness,' and the riches of his grace, how eminently are they
made glorious in Christ, and advanced for our good ! God hath set
him forth to declare his righteousness for the forgiveness of sin; he
hath made way in him for ever to exalt the glory of his pardoning
mercy towards sinners. To manifest this is the great design of the
gospel, as Paul admirably sets it out, Eph. i 5-8. There must our
souls come to an acquaintance with them, or for ever live in dark-
ness. Now, this is a saving knowledge, and full of consolation, when we
can see all the properties of God made glorious and exalted in
a way of doing us good. And this wisdom is hid only in Jesus
Christ. Hence, when he desired his Father to glorify his name,
John xii. 24,-^tp make in him his name (that is, his nature, his
1 Isa. liii: 5, 6; Lev. xvi. 21; Rom. viii. 32.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 93
properties, his wUl) all glorious in that work of redemption he had
in hand, — he was instantly answered from heaven, "I have both
glorified it and wUl glorify it again." He will give it its utmost
glory in him.
(2.) That God will yet exercise and lay out those properties of his
to the utmost in our behalf. Though he hath made them all glo
rious in a way that may tend to our good, yet it doth not absolutely
follow that he wiU use them for our good; for do we not see innu
merable persons perishing everlastingly, notwithstanding the mani
festation of himself which God hath made in Christ? Wherefore
farther, God hath committed all his properties into the hand of Christ
if I may so say, to be managed in our behalf, and for our good. He1
is " The power of God, and the wisdom of God;" he is "The Lord our
Righteousness," and is " made unto us of God wisdom, and righteous
ness, sanctification, and redemption." Christ having glorified hisFather
in all his attributes, he hath now the exercise of .them committed to
him, that he might be the captain of salvation to them that do beUeve ;
so that if, in the righteousness, the goodness, the love, the mercy, the
aU-sufficiency of God, there be any thing that wUl do us good, the
Lord Jesus is fully interested with the dispensing of it in our behalf.
Hence God is said to be " in him, reconcUing the world unto himself,"
2 Cor. v. 18. Whatever is in him, he layeth it out for the reconcUia
tion of the world, in and by the Lord Christ; and he becomes " The
Lord our Righteousness," Isa. xiv. 24, 25. And this is the second
thing required.
(3.) There remaineth only, then, that these attributes of God, so
manifested and exercised, are powerful and able to bring us to the
everlasting fruition of him. To evince this, the Lord wraps up the
whole covenant of grace in one promise, signifying no less: " I wUl
be your God." In the covenant, God becomes our God, and we are
his people; and thereby aU his attributes are ours also. And lest
that we should doubt — when once our eyes are opened to see in any
measure the inconceivable difficulty that is in this thing, what un
imaginable obstacles on aU hands there Ue against us — that all is not
enough to deliver and save us, God hath, I say, wrapped it up ih this
expression, Gen. xvii 1, "Iam," saith he,3 "God Almighty" (aU-suf-
ficient) ; — " I am wholly able to perform aU my undertakings, and
to be thy exceeding great reward. I can remove aU difficulties, an
swer all objections, pardon all sins, conquer aU opposition: I am God
all-sufficient." Now, you know in whom this covenant and aU the
promises thereof are ratified, and in whose blood it is confirmed, —
1 1 Cor. i. 20, 30; Jer. xxiii. 6.
2 " Shaddai, Aquila interpretatur xXxi/tav, quod nos robustum et ad omnia perpc-
tranda suflicientem possumus dicere." — Hieron.^ Epist. cxxxvi.

94 OF communion WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
to wit, in the Lord Christ alone; in him only is God an all-suffi
cient God to any, and an exceeding great reward. And hence Christ
himself is said to " save to the uttermost them that come to God
by him," Heb. vii. And these three things, I say, are required to
be known, that we may have a saving acquaintance, and such as
is attended with consolation, with any of the properties of God ;
and all these being hid only in Christ, from him alone it is to be
obtained. This, then, is the first part of our first demonstration, — that all true
and sound wisdom and knowledge is laid up in the Lord Christ, and
from hun alone to be obtained ; because our wisdom, consisting, in a
main part of it, in the knowledge of God, his nature, and his pro
perties, this lies wholly hid in Christ, nor can possibly be obtained
but by him.
II. For the knowledge of ourselves, which is the second part of
our1 wisdom, this consists in these three things, which our Saviour
sends his Spirit to convince the world of, — even " sin, righteousness,
and judgment," John xvi. 8. To know ourselves in reference unto
these, three, is a main part of true and sound wisdom; for they all
respect the supernatural and immortal end whereunto we are ap
pointed ; and there is none of these that we can attain unto but only
in Christ.
1. In respect of sin. There is a sense and knowledge of sin left
in the consciences oi all men by nature. To tell them what is good
and evU in many things, to approve and disapprove of what they ao,
in reference to a judgment to come, they need not go farther than
themselves, Rom. ii. 14, 15. But this is obscure, and relates mostly
to greater sins, and is in sum that which the apostle gives us, Rom.
i. 32, " They know the judgment of God, that they which do such
things are worthy of death." This he placeth among the common
presumptions and notions that are received by mankind, — namely,
that it is3 " righteous with God, that they who do such things are
worthy of death." And if that be true, which is commonly received,
that no nation is so barbarous or rude, but it retaineth some sense
of a Deity; then this also is true, that there is no nation but hath a'
sense of sin, and the displeasure of God for it. For this is the very
first3 notion of God in the world, that he is the rewarder of good and
1 fH ffoipix iffri rcov rt/tturxruv  Arist.
9 Ta ttxxiuftx rov &tov iirtytbvrig on oi rx retavrx vr_xo-o-ovrtg x_m Sxvx%ev tiffit. — Rom.
i. 32. "Perfecto demum scelere, magnitudo ejus intellecta est."  Tacit.
Ti %w%pa irxo-%uf, rig e xvroXXvtriv t'otrog-.
'H c-vvto-ig, on o-vtoiix Si/V ii_yxo-/iitog — Eurip. Orest. 395, 396.
* "Primus est deorum eultus, Deos credere : deinde reddere illis majestatem
suam, reddere bonitatem, sine qua nulla majestas est. Scire illos esse qui prsesident
mundo: qui universa vi sua temperant : qui humani generis tutelam gerunt." 

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 95
evU. Hence were all the sacrifices, purgings, expiations, which were
so generaUy spread- over the face of the earth. But this was and is
but very dark, in respect of that knowledge of sin with its appurte
nances, which is to be obtained.
A farther knowledge of sin, upon all accounts whatever, is given
by the law ; that law which was " added because of transgressions.-"
This1 revives doctrinally all that sense of good and evil which was
at first implanted in ,man ; and it is a glass, whereinto whosoever is
able spiritually to look, may see sin in all its ugliness and deformity.
The truth is, look upon the law in its purity, hoUness, compass, and
perfection; its manner of delivery* with dread, terror, thunder,
earthquakes, fire ; the sanction of it, in death, curse, wrath ; and it
makes a wonderful discovery of sin, upon every account : its pollution,
guUt, and exceeding sinfulness are seen by it. But yet all this doth
not suffice to give a man a true and thorough conviction of sin. Not
but that the glass is clear, but of ourselves we have not eyes to look
into it ; the rule is straight, but we cannot apply it : and therefore
Christ sends his Spirit to convince the world of sin, John xvi. 8 ;
who, though, as to some ends and purposes, he makes use of the law,
yet the work of conviction, which alone is a useful knowledge of sin,
is his peculiar work. And so the discovery of sin may also be said
to be by Christ, — to be part of the wisdom that is hid in him. But
yet there is a twofold regard besides this, of his sending his Spirit to
convince us, wherein this wisdom appears to be hid in him : — First,
because there are some near concernments of sin, which are more
clearly held out in the Lord Christ's being made sin for us, than any
other way. Secondly, in that there is no knowledge to be had of
Senec, Epist. xcvi. " Neque honor ullus deberi potest Deo, si nihil prtestat colenti;
nee ullus metus, si non irascitur non colenti."— Lactan.
" Raro antecedentem scelestum
Deseruit pede psena claudo.*'— Horat., Od. iii. 2, 31, 32.
" Quo fugis Encelade ? quascunque accesseris oras,
Sub Jove semper eris," etc.
 " Hos tu
Evasisse putes, quos diri conscia facti
Mens habet attonitos, et surdo verbere csedit'" — Juvenal, Sat. xiii.192.
Olti ffv rovg Sxvovrxg, ca T^txoo-r^xrt,
TpvQtis oovrxo-vit /ttrxXxSovrxg Iv /3/<w,
JJtQlvyivxi, ro Suov aig XlXnQorxs:
"Eo-nv Atxrtg otpdaX/tos, os rx irxvP oflx.
Kai yxp xxf xb*7iv 6vo rgiGovg vo/ti^o/ttv,
\ Mlxt tixxiuv, \ripxv S' xtrsSaiv uv oYov.
K' li roiig Sua xxXv-^-u h yv, tpxo-i, Xi^V
'Ao-rxZ,', xiriXSuv, xXt-jrr, uiroo-rigu, xvxx.
MuSty rXW;:, 'io-rxi xxt xhov x_'itig.
°T3.vrt_ iromo-u ©so* ' -xxvrm o*anrlms,
Ov rovvo/tx <po€tgav evV xv ovo/AXo-xi/t 'tya. x. r. A.
— Philemon, juxta Justin. Martyr, seu Diphil. juxta Clement.
1 Gal. iii. 19; Rom. vii. 13.
: Exod. xix. 18-20 ; Deut. iv. 11; Heb. xii. 18-21.

96 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
sin, so as to give it a spiritual and saving improvement, but only in
him. For the first, there are four things in sin that clearly shine out in
the cross of Christ :— (1.) The desert oi it. (2.) Man's impotency by
reason of it. (3.) The death of it. (4.) A new end put to it.
(1.) The desert of sin doth clearly shine in the cross of Christ upon
a twofold account: — [1.] Of the person suffering for it. [2.] Of the
penalty he underwent.
[1.] Of the person suffering for it. This the Scripture oftentimes
very emphatically sets forth, and lays great weight upon: John Ui.
16, " God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son."
It was his only Son that God sent into the world to suffer for sin,
Rom. viii. 32. " He spared not his own Son, but delivered him
up for us all." To see a slave beaten and corrected, it argues a
fault committed ; but yet perhaps the demerit of it was not very great.
The correction of a son argues a great provocation; that of an only
son, the greatest imaginable. Never was sin seen to be more abo
minably sinful and full of provocation, than when the burden of it
was upon the shoulders of the Son of God. God having made his
Son, the Son of his love, his only begptten, full of grace and truth,1
sin for us, to manifest his indignation agamst it, and how utterly
impossible it is that he should let the least sin go unpunished, he
lays3 hand on him, and spares him not. If8 sin be imputed to the
dear Son of his bosom, as upon his own voluntary assumption of it
it was (for he said to his Father, " Lo, I come to do thy will," -and all
our iniquities did meet on him), [and] he wiU not spare him any thing
of the due desert of it ; is it not most clear from hence, even from
the blood of the cross of Christ, that such is the demerit of sin, that
it is altogether impossible that God should pass by any, the least, un
punished ? If he would have done it for any, he would have done it in
reference to his only Son ; but he spared him not.
Moreover, God is not at aU deUghted with, nor desirous of, the
blood, the tears, the cries, the inexpressible torments and sufferings,
of .the Sen pf his love (for he deUghts not in the anguish of any, —
"he doth not4 afflict wUlingly, nor grieve the children of men,"
much less the Son of his bosom); only he required that his law be
fulfilled, his justice satisfied, his wrath atoned for sin'; and nothing
less than all this would bring it about. If the debt of sin might
have been compounded for at a cheaper rate, it had never been held
up at the price of the blood of Christ. Here, then, soul, take a view
, of the desert of sin; behold it far more evident than in all the threat
enings and curses of the law. " I thought, indeed," mayest thou say
from thence, "that sin, being found on such a poor worm as I am,
1 2 Cor. v. 21. a Zech. xiii. 7. » Heb. x. 7; Isa. liii. 6. « Lam. iii. 33.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 97
was worthy of death; but that it should have this effect if charged
on the Son of God, — that I never once imagined."
[2.] Consider also, farther, what he suffered. For though he was
so exceUent a one, yet perhaps it was but a light affliction and trial
that he underwent, especiaUy considering the strength he had to bear
it. Why, whatever it were, it made this1 " fellow of the Lord of
hosts," this3 " lion of the tribe of Judah," this3 " mighty one," " the4
wisdom and power of God," to tremble,5 sweat, cry, pray, wrestle, and
that with strong supplications. Some of the popish devotionists tell
us that one drop, the least, of the blood of Christ, was abundantly
enough to redeem all the world ; but they err, not knowing the desert
of sin, nor the severity of the justice of God. If one drop less than
was shed, one pang less than was laid on, would have done it, those
other drops had not been shed, nor those other pangs laid on. God
did not cruciate the dearly- beloved of his soul for nought. But there
is more than all this': —
It pleased God to 6 bruise him, to put him to grief, to make his
soul • an offering for sin, and to pour out his life unto death. He
1 hid himself from him, — was far from the voice of his cry, until he
cried out, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He
made him 8sin and a s curse for us; executed on him the sentence of
the law ; brought him into an agony, wherein he sweat thick drops of
blood, was grievously troubled, and his soul was heavy unto death.
He that was the power of God, and the wisdom of God, went stooping
under the burden, untU the whole frame of nature seemed astonished
at it. Now this, as I said before that it discovered the indignation
of God against sin, so it clearly holds out the desert of it. Would
you,- then, see the true demerit of sin? — take the measure of it from
the mediation of Christ, especially his cross. It brought him who was
the Son of God, equal unto God, God blessed for ever, into the form
of a "servant, who had not where to lay his head. It pursued him
all his life with afflictions and persecutions; and lastly brought him
under the rod pf God; there bruised him and brake him, — "slew the
Lord of Ufe. Hence is deep humiliation for it, upon the account of
him whom we n have pierced. And this is the first spiritual view of
sin we have in Christ.
(2.) The wisdom of understanding our impotency, by reason of
sin, is wrapped up in him. By our impotency, I understand two
things: — [1.] Our disability to make any atonement with God for
sin. [2.] Our disability to answer his mind and wiU, in all or any
of the obedience that he requireth, by reason of sin.
1 Zech. xiii. 7. a Rev. v. 5. » Ps. Ixxxix. 19 * Prov. viii. 22; 1 Cor. i. 24.
5 Matt. xxvi. 37, 38; Mark xiv. 33, 34; Luke xxii. 44; Heb. v. 7.
6 Isa. liii. 5, 6. ' Ps. xxii. 1. 8 2 Cor. v. 21. 9 Gal. iii. 13.
» Phil. ii. 8. " 1 Cor. ii. 7. B Zech. xii. 10,
VOL. II. ?

98 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
[1.] For the first, that alone is discovered in Christ. Many in
quiries have the sons of men made after an atonement, — many ways
have they entered into to accomplish it. After this they inquire,
Mic. vi. 6, 7, " Will any manner of sacrifices, though appointed" of
God, as burnt-offerings, and calves of a year old ; though very costly,
thousands of rams, and ten thousand rivers of oU; though dreadful
and tremendous, offering violence to nature, as to give my chUdren
to the fire;" — will any of these things make an atonement? David
doth positively, indeed, determine this business, Ps. xlix. 7, 8, " None
of them" (of the best or richest of men) " can by any means redeem
his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him ; for the redemption of
their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever." It cannot be done, —
no atonement can be made ; yet men would stiU be domg, stUl at
tempting: hence did they heap up1 sacrifices, some costly, some
bloody and inhuman. The Jews, to this day, think that God was
atoned for sin by the sacrifices of bulls and goats, and the Uke. And
the Socinians acknowledge no atonement, but what consists in men's
repentance and new obedience. In the cross of Christ are the mouths
of aU stopped as to this thing. For, —
1st. God hath there discovered that no sacrifices for sin, though
of his own appointment, could ever make them perfect that offered
them, Heb. x. 1 1 . Those sacrifices could never take away sin ; 2 — th ose
services could never make them perfect that performed them, as to
the conscience, Heb. ix. 9 ; as the apostle proves, chap. x. 1. And
thence the Lord rejects all sacrifices and offerings whatever, as to any
such end and purpose, verses 6-8, Christ, in their.- stead, saying, " Lo,
I come ;" and by him we are " justified from all things, from which
we. could not be justified by the law," Acts xUi. 39: God, I say, in
Christ, hath condemned all sacrifices, as wholly insufficient in the
least to make an atonement for sin. And how great a thing it was
to instruct the sons of men in this wisdom, the event hath manifested.
2dly. He hath also written vanity on all other endeavours what
ever, that have been undertaken for that purpose. Rom. iu. 24-26,
by setting forth his only Son " to be a propitiation," he leaves no
doubt upon the spirits of men that in themselves they could make
no. atonement; for " if righteousness were by the law, then were
Christ dead in vain." To what purpose should he be made a pro
pitiation, were not we ourselves weak and without strength to any
such purpose? So the apostle argues, Rom. v. 6, when we had no
power, then did he by death make an atonement; as verses 8, 9.
This, wisdom then, is also hid in Christ. Men may see by other
helps, perhaps, far enough to fill them with dread and astonishment,
„ those in Isa. xxxiu. 14; but such a sight and view of it as may
' Vid. Diatr. de Just. Divin. cap. iii. vol. x. ' Ps. xl. 6, 7.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 99
lead a soul to any comfortable settlement about it, — that only is dis
covered in this treasury of heaven, the Lord Jesus.
[2.] Our disability to answer the mind and will of God, in aU or
any of the obedience that he requireth, is in him only to be dis
covered. This, indeed, is a thing that many will not be acquainted
with to this day. To teach a man that he cannot do what he ought
to do, and for which he condemns himself if he do it not, is no easy
task. Man rises up with all his power to plead against a conviction
of impotency. Not to mention the proud 1 conceits and expressions
of the phUosophers, how many that would be called Christians do
yet creep, by several degrees, in the persuasion of a power of fulfiUing
the law! And from whence, indeed, should men have this knowledge
that we have not? Nature will not teach it, — that is3 preud and con
ceited; and it is one part of its pride, weakness, and corruption, not
to know it at aU. The law will not teach it: for though that'wUl
show us what we have done amiss, yet it will not discover to us that
we could not do better; yea, by requiring exact obedience of us, it
takes for granted that such power is in us for that purpose : it takes
no notice that we have lost it; nor doth it concern it so to do. This,
then, also lies hid in the Lord Jesus. Rom. vin. 2-4, " The law pf
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death. For what the law could not , do, in that it was
weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the right
eousness of the law might be fulfilled in us." The law can bring forth
no righteousness, no obedience; it is weak to any such purpose, by
reason of the flesh, and that corruption that is come on us. These
two things are done in Christ, and by him : — First, Sin is condemned
as to its guUt, and we set free from that; the righteousness of the law
by his obedience is fulfilled in us, who could never do it ourselves.
And, secondly, That obedience which is required of us, his Spirit
works it in us. So that that perfection of obedience which we have
in him is imputed to us ; and the sincerity that we have in obedience
is from his Spirit bestowed on us. And this is the most excellent
glass, wherein we see our impotency; for what need we his perfect
obedience to be made ours, but that we have not, can not attain any?
what need we his Spirit of hfe to quicken us, but that we are dead
in trespasses and sins?
(3.) The death oi sin ; — sin dying in us now, in some measure, whilst
we are alive. This is a third concernment of sin which it is our wis
dom to be acquainted with ; and it is hid only in Christ. There is a
1 " Quia unusquisque sibi virtutem acquirit; nemo sapientum de ea gratias Deo
egit." — Cicer.
' " Natura sic apparet vitiata, ut hoc majoris vitii sit non videre."— Aug.

100 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
twofold dying of sin: — as to the exercise of it in our mortal members;
and as to the root, principle, and power of it in our souls. The first,
indeed, may be learned in part out of Christ. Christless men may
have sin dying. in them, as to the outward exercise of it. Men's
bodies may be disabled for the service of their lusts, or the practice
of them may not consist with their interest. Sin is never more alive1
than when it is thus dying. But there is a dying of it as to the root,
the principle of it, — the daily decaying of the strength, power, and life
of it; and this is to be had alone in Christ. Sin is a thing that of
itself is not apt to die or to decay, but to get ground, and strength,
and life, in the subject wherein it is, to eternity; prevent all its actual
eruptions, yet its original enmity against God wiU stUl grow. In
believers it is still dying and decaying, until it be. utterly abolished.
The opening of this treasury [mystery?] you have, Rom. vi 3-6, etc.
" Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ
were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by ,
baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his
death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection ; knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin
might' be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." This
is the design of the apostle in the beginning of that chapter, not only
to manifest whence is the principle and rise of our mortification and
the death of sin, even from the death and blood of Christ; but also
the manner of sin's continuance and dying in us, from the manner
of Christ's dying for sin. He was crucified for us, and thereby sin
was crucified in us; he died for us, and the body of sin is destroyed,
that we should not serve sin; and as he was raised from the dead,
that death should not have dominion over him, so also are we raised
from sin, that it should not have dominion over us. This wisdom is
hid in Christ only. Moses at his dying day had aU his strength and
vigour; so have sin and the law to aU out of Jesus: at their dying
day, sin is no way decayed; Now, next to the receiving of the right
eousness prepared for us, to know this is the chiefest part of our wis
dom. To be truly acquainted with the principle of the dying of sin,
to feel virtue and power flowing from the cross of Christ to that pur
pose, to find sin crucified in us, as Christ Was crucified for us, — this is
wisdom indeed, that is in him alone.
(4.) There is a glorious end whereunto sin is appointed and or
dained, and disccvered in Christ, that ethers are unacquainted withal.
Sin in its cwn nature tends merely to the dishonour of God, the de
basement of his majesty, and the ruin of the creature in whom it is;
1 See Treatise of Mortification. [Works, vol. vi.]

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 101
hell itself is but the filling of wretched creatures with the1 fruit of
their own devices. The comminations and threats of God in the law
do manifest one other end of it, even the demonstration of the vin
dictive justice of God, in measuring out unto it a meet3 recompense
of reward. But here the law stays (and with it all other light) and
discovers no other use or end of it at all. In the Lord Jesus there
is the manifestation of another and more glorious end ; to wit, the
praise of God's glorious3 grace in the pardon and forgiveness of it ; —
God having taken order in Christ that that thing which tended
merely to his' dishonour should be managed to his infinite glory, and
that which of all things he desireth to exalt, — even that he may be
known and believed to be a4 " God pardoning iniquity, transgression
and sin." To return, then, to this part of our demonstration : —
In the knowledge of ourselves, in reference to our eternal condition,
doth much of our wisdom consist. There is not any thing wherein,
in this depraved condition of nature, we are more concerned than
sin ; without a knowledge of that, we know not ourselves. " Fools
make a mock of sin." A true saving knowledge of sin is to be had
only in the Lord Christ : in him may we see the desert of our ini
quities, and their poUution, which could not be borne or expiated but
by his blood ; neither is there any wholesome view of these but in
Christ. In him and his cross is discovered our universal impotency,
either of atoning God's justice or living up to his will. The death
of sin is procured by, and discovered in, the death of Christ; as also
the manifestation of the riches of God's grace in the pardoning thereof.
A real and experimental acquaintance, as to ourselves, with all which,
is our wisdom; and it is that which is of more value than aU the
wisdom of the world.
2. Righteousness is a second thing whereof the Spirit of Christ
convinces the world, and the main thing that it is our wisdom to be
acquainted withal. This all men are persuaded of, that God is a
most righteous God; (that is a natural notion of God which Abra
ham insisted on, Gen. xvui. 25, "ShaU not the Judge of all the
earth do right?") they "know that this is the judgment of God,
that they who commit such things are worthy of death," Rom. i. 32;
that " it is a righteous thing with him to recompense tribulation
unto offenders," 2 Thess. i 6. He is " a God of purer eyes than to
behold evU," Hab. i. 13 ; and therefore, " the ungodly cannot stand in
judgment," Ps. i. 5. Hence the great inquiry of every one (who lies
in any measure under the power of it), convinced of immortality and
the judgment to come, is concerning the righteousness wherewith to
appear in the presence of this righteous God. This more or less they
aie solicitous about all their days; and so, as the apostle speaks,' Heb.
1 Prov. i. 31; Jer. xvii. 10. 2 2 Thess. i. 6. 8Eph. i. 6. * Heb. viii. 6-13.

102 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. .
ii. 15, " through the fear of death they are all their lifetime subject to
bondage," — they are perplexed' with fears about the issue of their
righteousness, lest it should end in death and destruction.
(1.) Unto men set upon this inquiry, that which first and naturally
presents itself, for their direction and assistance, assuredly promising
them a righteousness that will abide the trial of God, provided they
wUl foUow its direction, is the law. The law hath many fair pleas
to prevail with a soul to close with it for a righteousness before God.
It was given out from God himseff fer that end and purpose ; it con
tains the whole obedience that God requireth of any of the sons of
men; it hath the promise of life annexed to it: "Do this, and Uve;"
"The doers of the law are justified;" and, "If thou wUt enter mto
life, keep the commandments;" — yea, it is most certain that it must
be wholly fulfilled, if we ever think to stand with boldness before
God. This being some part of the plea of the law, there is no man
that seeks after righteousness but doth, one time or another, attend
to it, and attempt its direction. Many do it every day, who yet will
not own that so they do. This, then, they set themselves about, —
labouring to correct their Uves, amend their ways, perform the duties
required, and so foUow after a righteousness according to the pre
script of the law. And in this course do many men continue long
with much perplexity; — sometimes hoping, oftener fearing ; sometimes
ready to give quite over; sometimes vowing to continue (their con
sciences being no way satisfied, nor righteousness in any measure
attained) all their days. After they have wearied themselves per
haps for a long season, in the largeness of their ways, they come at
length, with fear, trembUng, and disappointment, to that conclusion
of the apostle, "By the works of the law no flesh is justified;" and
with dread cry that if God mark what is done amiss, there is no
standing before him. That they have this issue, the apostle wit
nesseth, 1Rom. ix. 31, 32, " Israel, who followed after the law of righte
ousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore?
.Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of
the law." It was not solely for want of endeavour in themselves
that they were disappointed, for they earnestly foUowed after the law
of righteousness; but from the nature of the thing itself, — it would not
bear it. Righteousness was not to be obtained that way; " For," saith
the apostle, " if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void,
and the promise made of none effect; because the law worketh wrath,"
Rom. iv. 14, 15. The law itself is now such as that it cannot give
life, Gal. Ui. 21, " If there had been a law given which would have
given Ufe, verily righteousness should have been by the law." And
he gives the reason in the next verse why it could not give life ; be;
1 Auuxo/t to/tot itxxioo-vttit sit t'o/tov lixxioevvns ovx sf^xtrt.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 103
cause " the Scripture concludes aU under sin ;" — that is, it is very true,
and the Scripture affirms it, that all men are. sinners, and the law
speaks not one word to sinners but death and destruction : therefore
the apostle tells us plainly, that God himself found fault with this
way of attaining righteousness, Heb. viU. 7, 8. xHe complains of it ;
that is, he declares it insufficient for that end and purpose.
Now, there are two considerations that discover unto men the
vanity and hopelessness of seeking righteousness in this path : —
[1.] That they have already sinned:* "For all have sinned, and
come short of the glory. of God," Rom. Ui. 23. This they are suffi
ciently sensible of, that although they could for the time to come
fulfil the whole law, yet there is a score, a reckoning, upon them al
ready, that they know not how to answer for. Do they consult their
guide, the 3law itself, how they may be eased of the account that is
past? it hath not one word of direction or consolation; but bids them
prepare to die. The sentence is gone forth, and there is no escaping.
[2.] That if all former debts should be blotted out, yet they are
no way able for the future to fulfil the law; they can as well move
the earth with a finger, as answer the perfection thereof: and there
fore, as I said, on this twofold account, they conclude that this labour
is lost. 4" By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
(2.) Wherefore, secondly, Being thus disappointed, by the severity
and inexorableness of the law, men generaUy betake themselves to
some other way, that may satisfy them as to those considerations
which took them off from their former hopes ; and this, for the most
part, is by fixing themselves upon some ways of atonement to satisfy
God, and helping out fhe rest with hopes of mercy. Not to insist on
the ways of atonement and expiation which the GentUes had pitched
on ; nor on the many ways and inventions — by works satisfactory of
their own, supererogations of others, indulgences, and purgatory in
the close — that the Papists have found out for this end and purpose ;
it is, I say, proper to aU convinced persons, as above, to seek for a
righteousness, partly by an endeavour to satisfy for what is past, and
partly by hoping after general mercy. This the apostle caUs a seeking
for it " as it were by the works of the law," Rom. ix. 32 ; 5not directly,
" but as it were" by the works of the law, making up one thing with
another. And he teUs us what issue they have in this business, chap.
x. 3, " Being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to estab
Ush their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God." They were by it enemies to the right
eousness of God. The ground of this going about to establish their
own righteousness was, that they were ignorant of the righteousness
1 Mt/iQo/ttvos . - Ilxtrsg -n/txprov, Roin. iii. 23, v. 12.
• Deut. xxvii. 26; Gal. iii. 10. ' Gal. iii. 11, 12. s 'Slg <| itym ti/to*.

104 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
of God. Had they known the. righteousness of God, and what exact
conformity to his will he requireth, they had never undertaken such
a fruitless business as to have compassed it " as it were by the works
of the law." ' Yet this many will stick on a long time. Something
they do, something they hope for; some old faults they wUl buy off
with new obedience. And this pacifies their consciences for a season;
but when the Spirit comes to convince them of righteousness, neither
will this hold. Wherefore, —
(3.) The matter comes at length to this issue, — they look upon them
selves under this twofold qualification; as, —
[1.] Sinners, obnoxious to the law of God and the curse there
of; so that unless that be satisfied, that nothing from thence shall
ever be laid to their charge, it is altogether in vain once to seek after
an appearance in the presence of God.
[2.] As creatures made to a supernatural and eternal end; and
therefore bound to answer the whole mind and wUl of God in the
obedience required at their hands. Now, it being before discovered
to them that both these are beyond the compass of their own endea
vours, and the assistance which they have formerly rested on, if their
eternal condition be of any concernment to them, their wisdom is,
to find out a righteousness that may answer both these to the utmost.
Now, both these are to be had only in the Lord Christ, who is our
righteousness. This wisdom, and all the treasures of it, are hid in
him. 1st. He expiates former iniquities, he satisfies for sin, and procures
remission of it. Rom. Ui. 24, 25, " Being justified freely by his grace,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus : whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the for
bearance of God." " All we like sheep," etc., Isa. 1UL 6. "Through his
blood we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins," Eph. i. 7. " God
spared not his own Son, but deUvered," etc., Rom. vui. 32. This, even
this alone, is our righteousness; as to that first part of it which consists
in the removal of the whole guilt of sin, whereby we are come short
of the glory of God. On this account it is that we are assured that
none shaU ever lay any thing to our charge, or condemn us, Rom.
viii. 33, 34, — there being "no condemnation to them that are in Christ
Jesus," verse 1. We are purged by the sacrifice of Christ, so as to have
" no more conscience of sin," Heb. x. 2; that is, troubles in conscience
about it. This wisdom is hid only in the Lord Jesus ; in him alone
is there an atonement discovered: and give me the wisdom which
shall cut all scores concerning sin, and let the world take what re
mains. But, —
2dty. There is yet something more required; it is not enough that

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 105
we are not guilty, we must also be actually righteous; — not only aU
sin is to be answered for, but all righteousness is to be fulfilled. By
taking away the guilt of sin, we are as persons innocent; but some
thing more is required to make us to be considered as persons obe
dient. I know nothing to teach me that an innocent person shall
go to heaven, be rewarded, if he be no more but so. Adam was
innocent at his first creation, but he was to " do this," to " keep the
commandments," before he entered into " life : " he had no title to life
by innocency. This, then, moreover, is required, that the whole law
be fulfilled, and all the obedience performed that God requires at our
hands. This is the soul's second inquiry; and it finds a resolution
only in the Lord Christ : " For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being recon
ciled, we shall be saved by his Ufe," Rom v. 10. His death recon
ciled us ; then are we saved by his Ufe. The actual obedience which
he yielded to the whole law of God, is that righteousness whereby
we are saved; if so be we are found in him, not having on our own
righteousness which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of
God by faith, Phil. iii. 9. This I shaU have occasion to handle more
at large hereafter.
To return, then : It is not, I suppose, any difficult task to persuade
men, convinced of immortality and judgment to come, that the main
of their wisdom lies in this, even to find out such a righteousness as
wUl accompany them for ever, and abide the severe trial of God him
self. Now, all the wisdom of the world is but folly, as to the dis
covery of this thing. The utmost that man's wisdom can do, is but
to find out most wretched, burdensome, and vexatious ways of perish
ing eternally. All the treasures of this wisdom are hid in Christ ; he
" of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness," 1 Cor. i 30.
3. Come we to the last thing, which I shall but touch upon ; and that
is judgment. The true wisdom of this also is hid in the Lord Christ; I
mean, in particular, that judgment that is for to come: so at present I
take the word in that place, [John xvi. 8.] Of what concernment this
is to us to know, I shall not speak ; — it is that whose influence upon
the sons of men is the principle of their discriminating themselves
from the beasts that perish. Neither shall I insist on the 2obscure
intimations of it which are given by the .present proceedings of Pro
vidence in governing the world; nor that greater light of it which
shines in the threats and promises of the law. The wisdom of it is
1 " Bene et composite C. Csesar  de vita et morte disseruit, falsa, credo,
existimans, ea quae de inferis memorantur; diverso itinere malos a bonis loca tetra,
inculta, fceda atque formidolosa habere." — Cato. apud. Sallnst. _Bell. Catil. Iii.
'AX.X' tffri xx) Tfij ovrt ro avxtiuo-xtcrSxt, xxi Ix ruv ridtiuruv rovs Z^uvrxg yiyvlo-Sxi, xxi
rkg rut rlSvturuv ipvxxs uvxt ' xxi rx7s /tit xyxQxig x/teivov iivxi, rxtg oi xxxxtg, xxxiot.—
Plat, in Phaed. 17.
•j " Deven£re locos laetos, et amoena vireta
Fortunatorum nemorum, sedesque beatas,'' etc. — "Virg., Ma. vi. 638.

106 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS -CHRIST.
in two regards hid in the Lord Jesus: — (1.) As to the truth of it
(2.) As to the manner of it: —
(1.) For the truth of it; and so in and by him it is confirmed, and
that two ways: — [1.] By his death. [2.] By his resurrection: —
[1.] By his death. God, in the death of Christ, punishing and
condemning sin in the flesh of his own Spn, in the sight of men,
angels, and devils, hath given an abundant assurance of a righteous
and universal judgment to come; wherefore, or upon what account
imaginable, could he be induced to lay such a load on him, but that he
will certainly reckon one day with the sons of men for all their works,
ways, and walkings before him. The death of Christ is a most so
lemn exemplar of the last judgment Those who own him to be the
Son of God, will not deny a judgment to come.
[2.] By his resurrection. Acts xviL 31, lUern icapae-)_\iiv warn, —
he hath given faith and assurance of this thing to all, by raising Christ
from the dead, having appointed him to be the judge of all; in whom
and by whom he wUl judge the world in righteousness. And then, —
(2.) And, lastly, for the manner of it: that it shaU be by him who
hath loved us, and given himself for us, — who is himself the righteous
ness that he reqmres at our hands; and on the other side, by him who
hath been, in his person, grace, ways, worship, servants, revUed,
despised, contemned by the men pf the world; — which holds out un
speakable consolation on the one hand, and terror on the other: so
that the wisdom of this also is hid in Christ.
And this is the second part of our first demonstration. Thus the
knowledge of ourselves, in reference to our supernatural end, is no
small portion of our wisdom. The things of the greatest concern
ment hereunto are, sin, righteousness, and judgment; the wisdom of
all which is alone hid in the Lord Jesus: which was to be proved.
III. The third part of our wisdom is to walk with God. Now, that
one may walk with another, six1 things are required: — 1. Agreement.
2. Acquaintance. 3. A way. 4. Strength. 5. Boldness. 6. An aim
ing at the same end. AU these, with the wisdom of them, are hid in
the Lord Jesus.
1. Agreement. The prophet tells us that two cannot walk to
gether unless they be agreed, Amos ui. 3. UntU agreement be made,
there is no communion, no walking together. God and man by nature
(or whilst man is in the state pf nature) are at the greatest enmity.
He declares nothing to us but wrath, Rom. i 18; whence we are said to
be chUdren of it; that is, born obnoxious to it, Eph. ii 3 : and whUst
we remain in that condition, " the wrath of God abideth on us," John
1 In the previous editions it is stated that five things are required to walk with
God, and then five things are immediately enumerated. It will be found, however,
that, in the subsequent illustration, six particulars are specified. A particular, tlie
way, (see p. 1-09,) had been omitted in the division stated above. "We have, there
fore, altered it in accordance with Owen's real treatment of his subject. — Ed.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 107
iii 36. AU the discovery that God makes of himself unto us is, that
he is mexpressibly provoked ; and therefore preparing wrath against
the day of wrath, and the revelation of his righteous judgment.
The day of his and sinners' meeting, is called " The day of wrath,"
Rom. ii. 5, 6. Neither do we come short in our enmity agamst hun ;
yea, we first began it, and we continue longest in it. To express this
enmity, the apostle tells us, that our very minds, the best part of us,
are " enmity against God," Rom. vUi. 7, 8 ; and that we neither are,
nor wUl, nor can be, subject to him; our enmity manifesting itself
by universal rebellion agamst him : whatever we do that seems other
wise, is but hypocrisy or flattery; yea, it is a part of this enmity to
lessen it. In this state the wisdom of walking with God must needs
be most remote from the soul. He is ltl Ught, and in him is no dark
ness at all;" we are darkness, and in us there is no light at aU. He
is life, a " living God;" we are dead, dead sinners, — dead in trespasses
and sin. He is " holiness," and glorious in it ; we wholly defiled, — an
abominable thing. He is " love;" we full of hatred, — hating and being
hated. Surely this is no foundation for agreement, or, upon that,
of walking together: nothing can be more remote than this frame
from such a condition. The foundation, then, of this, I say, is laid
in Christ, hid in Christ. " He," saith tbe apostle, " is our peace ; he
hath made peace" for us, Eph. ii. 14, 15. He slew the enmity in his
own body on the cross, verse 16.
(1.) He takes out of the way the cause of the enmity that was
between God and us, — sin and the curse of the law. He makes an
end of sin, and that by making atonement for iniquity, Dan. ix. 24;
and he blotteth out the hand-writing of ordinances, Col. U. 14, redeem
ing us from the curse, by " being made a curse for us," Gal. UL 13.
(2.) He destroys him who would continue the enmity, and make
the breach wider, Heb. ii 14, " Through death he destroyed him
that had the power of death, that is, the devil;" and, Col. ii 15,
" Spoiled principaUties and powers."
(3.) He made " reconciliation for the sins of the people," Heb.
u. 17; he made by his blood an atonement' with God, to turn away
that wrath which was due to us, so making peace. Hereupon God is
said to be " in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself," 2 Cor.
v. 19; — being reconcUed himself, verse 18, he lays down the enmity on
his part, and proceeds to what remains, — to slay the enmity on our
part, that we also may be reconciled. . And this also, —
(4.) 'He doth; for, Rom. v. 11, " By our Lord Jesus Christ we
do receive the atonement," accept of the peace made and tendered,
laying down our enmity to God ; and so confirming an agreement
betwixt us in his blood. So that " through him we have an access
1 1 John i. 5, iKtrix iv xiiry ovx io-nv evot/tia. John i. 5; Eph.' v. 8, ii. 1; Exod.
XV. 11,-1 John iv. 8 , Tit. iii. 3.

108 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
unto the Father," Eph. ii. ] 8. Now, the whole wisdom of this agree
ment, without which there is no walking with God, is hid in Christ;
out of him God on his part is a consuming fire, — we are as stubble
fuUy dry, yet setting ourselves in battle array against that fire: if
we are brought together we are consumed. All our approachings to
him out of Christ are but to our detriment; in his blood alone have
we this agreement. And let not any of us once suppose that we. have
taken any step in the paths of God with him, that any one duty is
accepted, that all is not lost as to eternity, if we have not done it
upon the account hereof.
2. There is required acquaintance, also, to walking together.
Two may meet together in the same way, and have no quarrel between
them, no enmity; but if they are mere strangers one to another, they
pass by without the least communion together. It doth not suffice
that the enmity betwixt God and us be taken away; we must also
have acquaintance given us with him. Our not knowing of him is a
great cause and a great part of our enmity. Our understandings are
" darkened," and we are " aUenated from the Ufe of God," etc., Eph.
iv. 18. This also, then, must be added, if we ever come to walk with
God, which is our wisdom. And this also is hid in the Lord Christ,
and comes forth from him. It is true there are sundry other means,
as his word and his works, that God hath given the sons of men, to
make a discovery of himself unto them, and to give them some
acquaintance with him, that, as the apostle speaks, Acts xvii. 27,
"they should seek the Lord, if haply they might find him;" but
yet, as that knowledge of God which we have by his works is but
very weak and imperfect, so that which we have by the word, the
letter of it, by reason of our blindness, is not saving to us if we have
no other help; for though that be light as the sun in the firmament,
yet if we have no eyes in our heads, what can it avaU us? — no saving
acquaintance with him, that may direct us to walk with him, can be
obtained. This also is hid in the Lord Jesus, and comes forth from
him, 1 John v. 20, " He hath given us an understanding, that we
should know him that is true ;" — all other light whatever without his
giving us an understanding, wUl not do it. He is the true Light, which
lighteth every onethat is enlightened, John i 9. He opens our under
standings that we may understand the Scriptures, Luke xxiv. 45 ; —
none hath. known God at any time, "but he hath revealed him,"
John i. 18. God dweUs in that " light which no man can approach
unto," 1 Tim. vi 16. None hath ever had any such acquaintance
with him as to be said to have seen him, but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ. Hence he teUs the Pharisees, that notwithstanding
all their great knowledge which they pretended, indeed they had
" neither heard the voice of God at any time, nor seen his shape,"
John v. 37. They had no manner of spiritual acquaintance with.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 109
God, but he was unto them as a man whom they had never heard
nor seen. There is no acquaintance with God, as love, and full of
kindness, patience, grace, and pardoning mercy (on which knowledge
of him alone we can walk with him), but only in Christ; but of this
fully before. This, then, also is hid in him.
3. There must, moreover, be a way wherein we must walk with
God. God did at the beginning assign us a path to walk in with
him, even the path of innocency and exact holiness, in a covenant of
works. This path, by sin, is so filled with thorns and briers, so stopped
up by curses and wrath, that no flesh living can take one step in that
path ; a new way for us to walk in must be found out, if ever we
think to hold communion with God. And this also lies upon the
former account. It is hid in Christ. All the world cannot, but by
and in him, discover a path that a man may walk one step with God
in. And therefore the Holy Ghost teUs us that Christ hath conse
crated, dedicated, and set apart for that purpose, " a new and living
way" into the holiest of aU, Heb. x. 20 ; a new one, for the first, old
one was useless ; a living one, for the other is dead : therefore, saith
he, verse 22, " Let us draw near;" having a way to walk in, let us
draw near. And this way that he hath prepared is no other but
himself, John xiv. 6. In answer to them who would go to the Father,
and hold communion with him, he tells them, " I am the way; and
no man cometh to the Father but by me." He is the medium of
all communication between God and us. In him We meet, in him
we walk. All influences of love, kindness, mercy, from God to us,
are through him ; all our returns of love, delight, faith, obedience
unto God, are all through him; — he being that " one way" God so
often promiseth his people : and it is a glorious way, Isa. xxxv. 8, — a
high way, a way of holiness, a way that none can err in that once
enter it; which is farther set out, Isa. xUi. 16. AU other ways, all
paths but this, go down to the chambers of death; they all lead to
walk contrary to God.
4. But suppose aU this, — that agreement be made, acquaintance
given, and a way provided ; yet if we have no strength to walk in
that way, what will all this avail us? This also, then, must be added;
of ourselves we are of no strength, Rom. v. 6, — poor weaklings, not
able to go a step in the ways of God. When we are set in the way,
either we throw ourselves down, or temptations cast us down, and we
make no progress: and the Lord Jesus tells us plainly, that "without
him we can do nothing," John xv. 5 ; not any thing at all that shaU
have the least acceptation with God. Neither can all the creatures
in heaven and earth yield us the least assistance. Men's contending
to do it in their own power, comes to nothing. This part of this
wisdom also is hid in Christ. All strength to walk with God is from
him. " I can do all thinsrs through Christ, which strengtheneth me,"

110 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
saith St. Paul, Phil. iv. 13, who denies that of ourselves we have any
sufficiency, 2 Cor. iii. 5. We that can do nothing in ourselves, we
are such weakhngs, can do all things in Jesus Christ, as giants; and
therefore in him we are, against all oppositions in our way, "more than
conquerors," Rom. viii. 37; and that because "from, his fulness we
receive grace for grace," John i. 16. From him have we the Spirit
of Ufe and power, whereby he bears, as on eagles' wings, swiftly, safely,
in the paths of walking with God. Any step that is taken in any
way, by strength that is not immediately from Christ, is one step
towards hell. He first takes us by the arm and teaches us to go,
untU he leads us on to perfection. He hath milk and strong meat
to feed us; he strengthens us with all might, and is with us in our
running the race that is set before us. But yet, —
5. Whence should we take this confidence as to walk with God ;
even our God, who is "a consuming fire?" Heb. xU. 29. Was there not
such a dread upon his people of old, that it was taken for granted
among them that if they saw God at any time, it was not to be en
dured, — they must die ? Can any, but with extreme horror, think of
that dreadful appearance that he made unto them of old upon mount
Sinai; untU Moses himself, who was their mediator, said, "I exceed
ingly fear and quake ?" Heb. xii. 21, and all the people said, " Let
not God speak with us, lest we die?" Exod. xx. 19. Nay, though
men have apprehensions of the goodness and kindness of God, yet
upon any discovery of his glory, how do they tremble, and are fiUed
with dread and astonishment ! Hath it not been so with the
"choicest of his saints?" Hab. Ui. 16; Isa. vi. 5; Job xlu. 5, 6.
Whence, then, should we take to ourselves this boldness, to walk with
God ? This the appstle wUl inform us in Heb. x. 19 ; it is " by the
blood of Jesus:" so Eph. iii. 12, " In him we have boldness, and
access with confidence;" — not standing afar off, like the people at the
giving of the law, but drawing nigh to God with boldness; and that
upon this account: — The dread and terror of God entered by sin;
Adam had not the least thought of hiding himself until he had sinned.
The guilt of sin being on the conscience, and this being a common
notion left in the hearts of all, that God is a most righteous revenger
thereof; this fills men with dread and horror at an apprehension of
his presence, fearing that he is come to call their sins to remembrance.
Now, the Lord Jesus, by the sacrifice and the atonement that he hath
made, hath taken away this conscience of sin; that is, a dread of re
venge from God upon the account of the guUt thereof. He hath
removed the slaying sword of the law, and on that account gives us
great boldness with God ; discovering him unto us now, no longer as
a revenging Judge, but as a tender, merciful, and reconciled Father.
Moreover, whereas there is on us by nature a spirit of bondage, filling
us with innumerable tormenting fears, he takes it away, and gives us

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. Ill
" the -Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father," and behave
ourselves with confidence and gracious boldness, as children: for
"where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Uberty," 2 Cor. iii. 17; that is,
a freedom from all that dread and terror which the administration of
the law brought with it. Now, as there is no sin that God wiU more
severely revenge than any boldness that man takes with him out of
Christ; so there is no grace more acceptable to him than that boldness
which he is pleased to afford us in the blood of Jesus. There is, then, —
6. But one thing more to add ; and that is, that two cannot walk
together unless they have the same design in hand, and aim at the
same end. This also, in a word, is given us in the Lord Jesus. The
end of God is the advancement of his own glory; none can aim at
this end, but only in the Lord Jesus. The sum of all is, that the
whole wisdom of our walking with God is hid in Christ, and from
him only to be obtained; as hath been manifest by an enumeration
of particulars.
And so have I brought my first demonstration of what I intended
unto a close, and manifested that aU true wisdom and knowledge is
laid up in, and laid out by, the Lord Jesus ; and this by an induction
of the chief particular heads of those things wherein confessedly our
wisdom doth consist. I have but one more to add, and therein I
shall be brief.
Secondly,1 then, I say this truth wUl be farther manifested by
the consideration of the insufficiency and vanity of any thing else
that may lay claim or pretend to a title to wisdom.
There be two things in the world that do pass under this ac
count: — 1. The one is learning or literature; skill and knowledge of
arts, sciences, tongues, with the knowledge of the things that are past.
2. Prudence and skill for the management of ourselves in reference
to others, in civU affairs, for pubUc good ; which is much the fairest
flower within the border of nature's garden. Now, concerning both
these, I shaU briefly evince, — (1.) That they are utterly insufficient
for the compassing and obtaining of those particular ends whereunto
they are designed. (2.) That both of them in conjunction, with
their utmost improvement, cannot reach the true general end of
wisdom. Both which considerations wUl set the crown, in the issue,
upon the head of Jesus Christ : —
1. Begin we with the first of these, and that as to the first par
ticular. Learning itself, if it were all in one man, is not able to
compass the particular end whereto it is designed; which writes
" vanity and vexation" upon the forehead thereof.
The particular end of literature (though not observed by many,
1 The division of which this indicates the second part, is implied, but not
expressed, in p. 79, and the first paragraph of p. 80. — Ed.

112 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
men's eyes being fixed on false ends, which compels them in their
progress " aberrare a scopo") is none other but to remove some part
of that curse which is come upon us by sin. Learning is the product
of the soul's struggling with the curse for sin. Adam, at his first
creation, was completely furnished with aU that knowledge (excepting
only things not then in being, neither in themselves nor in any natural
causes, as that which we now call tongues, and those things that are
the subject of story), as far as it Ues in a needful tendency to the
utmost end of man, which we. now press after. There was no strait-
ness, much less darkness, upon his understanding, that should make
him sweat for a way to improve, and make out those general concep
tions of things which he had. For his knowledge of nature, it is
manifest, from his imposition of suitable names on all the creatures
(the particular reasons of the most of which to us are lost) ; wherein,
from the approbation given of his nomination of things in the Scrip
ture, and the significancy of what yet remains evident, it is most
apparent it was done upon a clear acquaintance with their natures.
Hence Plato could observe,1 that he was most wise that first imposed
names on things; yea, had more than human wisdom. Were the
wisest man living, yea, a general coUection of all the wise men in the
world, to make an experiment of their skill and learning, in giving
names to aU Uving creatures, suitable to their natures and expressive
of their qualities, they would quickly perceive the loss they have in
curred. Adam was made perfect, for the whole end of ruling the
creatures and living to God, for which he was made; which, without
the knowledge of the nature of the one and the wUl of the other, he
could not be. AU this being lost by sin, a multipUcation of tongues
also being brought in, as a curse for an after rebeUion,3 the whole
design of learning is but to disentangle the soul from this issue of
sin. Ignorance, darkness, and blindness, is come upon the under
standing; acquaintance with the works of God, spiritual and natural,
is lost; strangeness of communication is given, by multiplication of
tongues; tumultuating of passions and affections, with innumerable
darkening prejudices, are also come upon us. To remove and take
this away — to disentangle the mind in its reasonings, to recover an
acquaintance with the works of God, to subduct the soul from under
the effects of the curse of division of tongues — is the aim and tendence
of Uterature. This is the "aUquid quo tendit;" and he that hath
any other aim in it, " Passim sequitur corvum testaque lutoque."3
Now, not to insist upon that vanity and vexation of spirit, with the
1 Olfiai /tit iyii rov xXtitio-rxnt Xoyot xtpi rovrm iivxi, £ 2tSxgxrtt, ftl!%v ntx ovtx/ut
tivxi n xvlfumixt, rh 9-t/iittit rx tr^Srx oti/txrx roig xpxy/txo-it. — Plato in Cratylo.
' Gen. xi. 3, etc.
3 These words are borrowed from Pers, Sat. iii. 60, 61, in allusion to the fruit
less pursuit of any object by the use of inadequate means. — En.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 113
innumerable evils wherewith this enterprise is. attended, this is that
I only say, it is in itself no way sufficient for the attainment of its
end, which writes vanity upon its forehead with characters not to be
obhterated. To this purpose I desire to observe these two things: —
(1.) That the knowledge aimed at to be recovered was given unto
man in order to his walking with God, unto that supernatural end
whereunto he was appointed. For after he was furnished with all
his endowments, the law of life and death was given to him, that he
might know wherefore he received them. Therefore, knowledge in
him was spiritualized and sanctified : even that knowledge which he
had by nature, in respect of its principle and end, was spiritual.
(2.) That the loss of it is part of that curse which was inflicted
on us for sin. Whatever we come short in of the state of the first
man in innocency, whether in loss of good or addition of evil, it is
•all of the curse for sin. Besides, that blindness, ignorance, darkness,
deadness, which is everywhere ascribed to us in the state of nature,
doth fuUy comprise that also whereof we speak.
On these two considerations it is most apparent that learning can
no way of itself attain the end it aimeth at. For, —
[1.] That light which by it is discovered (which, the Lord knows,
is very little, weak, obscure, imperfect, uncertain, conjectural, for a
great part only enabling men to quarrel with and oppose one another,
to the reproach of. reason, yet I say, that which is attained by it) is
not in the least measure by it spiritualized, or brought mto that
order of living to God, and with God, wherein at first it lay. This is
wholly beyond its reach. As to this end, the apostle assures us that
the utmost issue that men come to, is darkness and folly, Rom. i. 21, 22.
Who knows not the profound inquiries, the subtile disputations, the
acute reasonings, the admirable discoveries of Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle, and others ? What, as to the purpose in hand, did they
attain by all their studies and endeavours? ' E/iupdv6rieav, says the
apostle, — " They became fools." He that, by general consent, bears
the crown of reputation for wisdom from them all, with whom to have
lived was counted an inestimable happiness,1 died Uke a fool, sacri
ficing a cock to ^Esculapius. And another [apostle assures us], that
Jesus Christ alone is " the true Light," that Ughteth us, John i 9.
And there is not any that hath any true Ught, but what is imme
diately from him. After all the learning of men, if they have nothing
else, they are stiU natural men, and perceive not the things of God.
Their Ught is stUl but darkness; and how great is that darkness! It
is the Lord Jesus alone who is anointed to open the eyes of the blind.
Men cannot spiritualize a notion, nor lay it in any order to the glori-
1 'Ei Sc rig rut xptrfig itpn/tivajt wtpiXi/t-vripu nti "Soixpxraut avttytttro, ixtitot iyoi rot
&tt(x iZio/txxxfio-ro-rxrot to/ti^u. — Xenoph. apol. pro Socrat. ad finem.
VOL. II. 8

114 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
fying of God. After all their endeaveurs, they are still blind and
dark, yea, darkness itself, knewing nothing as they shpuld. I know
how the men of these attainments are apt to say, " Are we bUnd
also?" with great contempt of others; but God hath blasted all their
pride:1 " Where," saith he, " is the wise? where is the scribe," etc.,
1 Cor i. 20. I shall not add what Paul hath farther cautioned us,
to the seeming condemning of phUosophy as being fitted to make
spoil of souls; nor what "Tertullian with some other of the ancients
have spoken of it ; being very confident that it was the abuse, and not
the true use and advantage of it, that they opposed. But, —
[2.] The darkness and ignorance that it strives to remove, being
come upon us as a curse, it is not in the least measure, as it is a
curse, able to remove it or take it away. He that hath attained to
the greatest height of literature, yet if he hath nothing else, — if he
have not Christ, — is as much under the curse of bUndness, ignorance;
stupidity, dulness, as the poorest, sUliest soul in the world. The curse
is only removed in him who was made a curse for us. Every thing
that is penal is taken away only by him on whom all our sins did
meet in a way of punishment ; yea, upon this account. The more
abilities the mind is furnished withal, the more it closes with the
curse, and strengthens itself -to act its enmity against God. All that
it receives doth but help it to set up high thoughts and imagina
tions against the Lord Christ. So that this knowledge comes short
of what in particular it is designed unto ; and therefore cannot be that
soUd wisdom we are inquiring after.
There be sundry other things whereby it were easy to blur the
countenance of this wisdom; and, from its intricacy, difficulty, uncer
tainty, unsatisfactoriness, — betraying its followers into that which they
1 " O Sapientia snperba irridens Christum crucifixum !" — August. Expos, in
Joh.Trac. 2, de'cap.,1.
2 " Hsereses a philosophic subornantur. Inde iEones, et formse nescio quae,
trinitas hominis apud Valentinum, Platonicus fuerat; inde Marcionis Deus melior '
de tranquillitate, a Stoicis venerat. Et ut anima interire dicatur, ab Epicureis
observatur, et ut carnis restitutio negetur, de un£ omnium philosophorum scholS
sumitur:  Quid ergo Athenis et Hierosolymis ? quid Academise et Eccle
siae ? quid haereticis et Christianis ? Nostra institutio de porticu Salomonis est.
Nobis curiositate opus non est post Jesum Christum; nee inquisitione post evan
gelium. Cum credimus, nihil desideramus ultra credere. Hoc enim prius credi-
mus, non esse quod ultra credere debeamus." — Tertul. de Prescript, ad Hseret.
[cap. vii.]
 'EmiWtrtp Ixa»as ix rat -rpoupn/titut rx rSv tpiXoo-otpait v/tSt lxix tyxrxi -r^xy/txrx
ring xytoixg xxi fTw« ipxvivrx v-xfy*. x. t. x. — Just. Mart, ad Grsec. Cohort, [c. xi.]
Movtot i/toi tpiXov 'itrxs Xoyoit xXtog, ovg trvtxytipxt
'AtroXiti rt, ivo-ig rt, xxi 'F.XXd'ic; tZxot Aftvxt,
ToTg im vroXX* i/toyyia-x oroXvt %patat, xXXx xx) uvroilg
Tlpntixg Sv %xvritot Xpttrrov -rpoorxpoiht tfaxx,
"El^xtrxs /ttyxXoio Stov Xoyai og pa xxXvvru
Xlxtrx tpptvos (iporittg ffrpt-ffrov iroXvtib"ia /tvSov. 
Greg. Naz. Car. i. de Reb. Suis.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 115
most profess to avoid, blindness and folly, — to write upon it "vanity and
vexation of spirit." I hope I shall not need to add any thing to clear
myself for not giving a due esteem and respect unto literature, my
intendment being only to cast it down at the feet of Jesus Christ,
and to set the crown upon his head.
2. Neither can the second part of the choicest wisdom out of Christ
attain the peculiar end whereunto it is appointed; and that is pru--
dence in the management of civil affairs, — than which no perishing
thing is more glorious, — nothing more useful for the common good
of human kind. Now, the immediate end of this prudence is to keep
the rational world in bounds and order, to draw circles about the
sons of men, and to keep them from passing their allotted bounds
and limits, to the mutual disturbance and destruction of each other.
All manner of trouble and disturbance ariseth from irregularity : one
man breaking in upon the rights, usages, interests, relations of another,
sets this world at variance. The sum and aim of all wisdom below
is, to cause all things to move in thefr proper sphere, whereby it would
be impossible there should be any more interfering than is in the
celestial orbs, notwithstanding all their divers and various motions : to
keep all to their own allotments, within the compass of the lines that
are faUen unto them, is the special end of this wisdom.
Now, it wUl be a very easy task, to demonstrate that all civil pru
dence whatever1 (besides the vexation of its attainment, and loss
being attained) is no way able to compass this end. The present
condition of affairs throughout the world, as also that of former ages,
will abundantly testify it; but I shaU farther discover the vanity of
it for this end in some few observations. And the
(1.) First is, That, through the righteous judgment of God lopping
off the top flowers of the pride of men, it frequently comes to pass
that those who are furnished with the greatest abUities of this kind
do lay them out to a direct contrary end unto that which is their
natural tendency and aim. From whom, for the most part, are all
the commotions in the world,— the breaking up of bounds, setting the
whole frame of nature on fire? is it not from such men as these?
Were not men so wise, the world, perhaps, would be more quiet, when
the end of -wisdom is to keep it in quietness. This seems to be a
curse that God hath spread upon the wisdom of the world, in the most
in whom it is, that it shaU be employed in direct opposition to its
proper end.
(2.) That God hath made this a constant path towards the ad
vancement of his own glory, even to leaven the wisdom and the
counsels of the wisest of the sons of men with folly and madness,
1 vCt yiipug iis ivrxxSts a.vdpuiroiiriv eT, xxi -?rxtrx%ii Xvvrnpov, ov xxff it ft'otot. it u yxp ovhh
"imx/tte" oii Uxyop.it, o-v mtixxvf k/txg iiixtrxtig iv ippovtTv. — Excerp. ex Nicostrat.

116 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
that they shaU, in the depth of their policy, 1 advise things for the
compassing of the ends they do propose as unsuitable as any thing
that could proceed out of the mouth of a child or a fool, and as
directly tending to their own disappointment and ruin as any thing
that could be invented against them. " He destroys the wisdom of
the wise, and brings to nothing the understanding of the prudent,"
1 Cor. i 19. This he largely describes, Isa. xix. 11-14. Drunken
ness and staggering is the issue of aU their wisdom ; and that upon
this account, — the Lord gives them the spirit of giddiness. So also
Job v. 12-14. They meet with darkness in the day-time :s when all
things seem clear about them, and a man would wonder how men
should miss their way, then will God make it darkness to such as
these. So Ps. xxxiii. 10. Hence God, as it were, sets them at work,
and undertakes their disappointment, Isa. viU. 9, 10, " Go about
your counsels," saith the Lord, " and I will take order that it shaU
come to nought." And, Ps. U. 3, 4, when men are deep at their plots
and contrivances, God is said to have them in derision, to laugh them
to scorn, seeing the poor worms industriously working out their own
ruin. Never was this made more clear than in the days wherein
we live. Scarcely have any wise men been brought to destruction,
but it hath evidently been through their own folly; neither hath the
wisest counsel of most been one jot better than madness.
(3.) That this wisdom, which should tend to universal quietness,
hath almost constantly given universal disquietness unto themselves
in whom it hath been most eminent. " In much wisdom is much
grief," Eccles. i. 18. And in the issue, some of them have made away
with themselves, as Ahithophel ; and the most of them have been
violently despatched by others. There is, indeed, no end of the foUy
of this wisdom.3 The great men of the world carry away the repu
tation of it ; — reaUy it is found in few of them. They are, for the
most part, common events, whereunto they contribute not the least
mite, which are ascribed to their care, vigUancy, and foresight. Mean
men, that have learned to adore what is above them, reverence the
meetings and conferences of those who are in greatness and esteem.
Their weakness and folly is little known. Where this wisdom hath
been most eminent, it hath dwelt so close upon the borders of atheism,
been attended with such falseness and injustice, that it hath made
'its possessors wicked and infamous.
1 " Isthuc est sapere, non quod ante pedes modb est,
Videre; sed etiam ilia quae futura sunt,
' Prospicere."— Teren. Adelph. 3, 3, 33.
s Isa. xxix. 14, xlvii. 10; Jer. xlix. 7; Obad. 8.
8 " Prudens futuri temporis exitum
Caliginosa nocte premit Deus :
Ridetque, si mortalis ultra
Fas trepidat."— Horat., Od. iii. 29, 29.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 117
I shaU not need to give any more instances to manifest the in
sufficiency of this wisdom for the attaining of its own peculiar and
immediate end. This is the vanity of any thing whatever, — that it
comes short of the mark it is directed unto. It is far, then, from
being true and solid wisdom, seeing on the forehead thereof you may-
read " Disappointment."
• And this is the first reason why true wisdom cannot consist in
either of these, — because they come short even of the particular and
immediate ends they aim at. But, —
Secondly, Both these in conjunction, with their utmost improve
ment, are not able to reach the true general end of wisdom. This
assertion also falleth under an easy demonstration, and it were a
facile thing to discover their disability and unsuitableness for the
true end of wisdom ; but it is so professedly done by him who had
the largest portion of both of any of the sons of men (Solomon in his
Preacher), that I shall not any farther insist upon it.
To draw, then, unto a close : — if true and solid wisdom is not in the
least to be found amongst these, if the pearl be not hid in this field, if
these two are but vanity and disappointment, it cannot but be to no
purpose to seek for it in any thing else below, — these being amongst
them incomparably the most exceUent ; and therefore, with one accord,
let us set the crown of this wisdom on the head of the Lord Jesus.
Let the reader, then, in a few words, take a view of the tendency
of this whole digression. To draw our hearts to the more cheerful
entertainment of and delight in the Lord Jesus, is the aim thereof.
If all wisdom be laid up in him, and by an interest in him only to
be attained, — if aU thmgs beside him and without him that lay claim
thereto are folly and vanity, — let them that would be wise learn where
to repose their souls.

CHAPTER IV.
Of communion with Christ in a conjugal relation in respect of consequential affec
tions — His delight in his saints first insisted on, Isa. lxii. 5; Cant. iii. 11;
Prov. viii. 31 — Instance of Christ's delight in believers — He reveals his whole
heart to them, John xv. 14, 15 ; himself, John xiv. 21 ; his kingdom ;
enables them to communicate their mind to him, giving them assistance, a
way, boldness, Rom. viii. 26, 27 — The saints dehght in Christ; this mani
fested Cant. ii. 7, viii. 6 — Cant. iii. 1-5, opened — Their delight in his servants
and ordinances of worship for his sake.
jThe communion begun, as before declared, between Christ and
the soul, is in the next place carried on by suitable consequential
1 The division to which reference is here made will be found on page 56. The
figure [2.] should have been inserted at the head of this chapter, to correspond

118 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
affections, — affections suiting such a relation. Christ having given
himself to the soul, loves the soul; and the soul having given itself
unto Christ, loveth him also. Christ loves his own, yea, " loves them
to the end," John xiii 1 ; and the saints they love Christ, they " love
the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity," Eph. vi. 24.
Now the love of Christ, wherewith he follows his saints, consists in
these four things : — I. Delight. II. Valuation. III. Pity, or compassion.
IV. Bounty. The love, also, of the saints unto Christ may be re
ferred to these four heads: — Delight; Valuation; Chastity; Duty.
Two of these are of the same kind, and two distinct; as is required
in this relation, wherein all things stand not on equal terms.
I. The first thing on the part of Christ is delight. Delight is the
flowing of love and joy, — the1 rest and complacence of the mind in a
suitable, desirable good enjoyed. Now, Christ deUghts exceedingly
in his saints: "As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall
thy God rejoice over thee," Isa. IxU. 5. Hence he calleth the day of
his espousals, the day of the "gladness of his heart," Cant. Ui. 11.
It is known that usually this is the most unmixed delight that the
sons of men are in their pilgrimage made partakers of. ' The delight
of the bridegroom in the day of his espousals is the height of what
an expression of delight can be carried unto. This is in Christ answer
able to the relation he takes us into. His heart is glad in us, without
sorrow. And every day whUst we live is his wedding-day. It is
said of him, Zeph. Ui. 17, " The Lord thy God in the midst of thee"
(that is, dwelUng amongst us, taking our nature, John i. 14) " is
mighty; he will save, he -wUl rejoice over, thee with joy; he wUl rest
in his love, he will joy over thee with singing;" which is a full descrip
tion of delight, in all the parts of it, — joy and exultation, rest and
complacence. " I rejoiced," saith he, " in the habitable parts of the
earth, and my deUghts were with the sons of men," Prov. vui. 31.
The thoughts of communion with the saints were the joy of his heart
from eternity. On the compact and agreement that was between his
Father and him, that he should divide a portion with the strong, and
save a remnant for his inheritance, his soul rejoiced in the thoughts
of that pleasure and delight which he would take in them, when he
should actually take them into communion with himself. Therefore
in the preceding verse it is said he was by him as flOK ; say we, " As
one brought up with him," " alumnus;" the LXX render it ap/iiofyvea-
and. the Latin, with most other translations, " cuncta componens," or
" disponens." The word taken actively, signifies him whom another
with [1.] on that page. The insertion of it, however, would have required great
changes, and rendered the subsequent numeration very obscure. — Ed.
1 'Hjovi /txXXov iv hpt/tix io-rit, 3 iv xitwu. — Arist. Eth., lib. vii., cap. 14. TtXtioi 31
rhv ivigyaxt h rio'oty. — Id. 1. 10, C 4.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 1 19
takes into his care to breed up, and disposeth of things for his advan
tage. So did Christ take us then into his care, and rejoiced in the
thoughts of the execution of his trust. Concerning them he saith,
" Here will I dweU, and here wUl I make my habitation for ever."
For them hath he chosen for his temple and his dwelling-place, be
cause he delighteth in them. This makes him take them so nigh
himself in every relation. As he is God, they are his temple; as he
is a king, they are his subjects, — he is the king of saints; as he is a
head, they are his body, — he is the head of the church; as he is a
first-born, he makes them his brethren, — " he is not ashamed to call
them brethren."
I shall choose out one particular from among many as an instance
for the proof of this thing; and that is this: — Christ reveals his se-
drets, his mind, unto his saints, and enables them to reveal the secrets
of their hearts to him; — an evident demonstration of great delight.
It was Samson's carnal delight in DeUlah that prevailed with him
to reveal unto her those things which were of greatest concernment
unto him ; he wUl not hide his mind from her, though it cost him his
life. It is only a hosom friend unto whom we will unbosom ourselves.
Neither is there, possibly, a greater evidence of delight in close com
munion than this, that one wUl reveal his heart unto him whom he
takes into society, and not entertain him with things common and vul
garly known. And therefore have I chose this instance, from amongst
a thousand that might be given, of this dehght of Christ in his saints.
He, then, communicates his mind unto his saints, and unto them
only; — his mind,' the counsel of his love, the thoughts of his heart,
the purposes of his bosom, for our eternal good; — his mind, the ways
of his grace, the workings of his Spirit, the rule of his sceptre, and
the obedience of his gospel.1 All spiritual revelation is by Christ.
He is " the true Light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the
world," John L 9. He is the " Day-spring," the " Day-star," and the
" Sun ;" so that it is impossible any light should be but by him. From
him it is that " the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him,
and he shows them his covenant," Ps. xxv. 14; as he expresses it at
large, John xv. 14, 15,3 "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I
command you. Henceforth I caU you not servants ; for the servant
knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for3
all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto
you." He makes them as his friends, and useth them as friends, — as
1 Mai. iv. 2; Luke i. 78; 2 Pet. i. 19.
1 "Voluntatem Dei nosse quisquam desiderat? fiat amicus Deo, quia si volun
tatem hominis nosse vellet, cujus amicus non esset, omnes ejus impudentiam et
Btultitiam deriderent." — August, de Gen. Cont. Man., lib. i. cap. 2.
8 " Vox -rxvrx ex subjecta materia, restrictionem ad doctrinam salutis requirit."
— Tarnov. in loc.

120 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
bosom friends, in whom he is delighted. He makes known all his
mind unto them; every thing that his Father hath committed to him
as Mediator to be reyealed, Acts xx. 24. And the apostle declares
how this is done, 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11, " ' God hath revealed these things1
unto us by his Spirit;' for we have received him, 'that we might know
the things that are freely given us of God.'" He sends us his Spirit,
as he promised, to make known his mind unto his saints, and to lead
them into (all truth. And thence the apostle concludes, " We have
known the mind of Christ," verse 16 ; " for he useth us as friends, and
declareth it unto us," John i 18. There is not any thing in the heart
of Christ, wherein these his friends are concerned, that he doth not
reveal to them. All his love, his good-will, the secrets of his cove
nant, the paths of obedience, the mystery of faith, is told them.
And all this is spoken in opposition to unbelievers, with whom he
hath no communion. These know nothing of the mind of Christ as
they ought : " The natural man receiveth not the things that are of
God," 1 Cor. ii. 14. There is a wide difference between understand
ing the doctrine of the Scripture as in the letter, and a true knowing
the mind of Christ. This we have by special unction from Christ,
1 John u. 27, " We have an unction from the Holy One, and we know
all things," 1 John ii. 20.
Now, the thmgs which in this communion Christ reveals to them
that he delights in, may be referred to these two heads: — 1. Him
self. 2. His kingdom.
1. Himself. John xiv. 21, " He that loveth me shall be loved of
my Father; and I wUl love hun, and wUl manifest myself unto him;"
— "manifest myself in all my graces, desirableness, and loveliness;
he shall know me as I am, and such I wUl be unto him, — a Saviour,
a Redeemer, the chiefest of ten thousand." He shall be acquainted
with the true worth and value of the pearl of price; let others look
upon him as having neither form nor comeliness, as no way desirable,
he will manifest himself and his excellencies unto them in whom he
is delighted, that they shall see- him altogether lovely. He wUl vaU
himself to all the world; but the saints with open face shall behold
his beauty and his glory, and so be translated into the image of the
same glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord, 2 Cor. Ui. 18.
2. His kingdom. They shaU be acquainted with the government
of his Spirit in their hearts; as also with his rule and the adminis
tration of authority in his word, and among his churches.
(1.) Thus, in the first place, doth he manifest his delight in his
saints, — he communicates his secrets unto them. He gives them to
know his person, his excellencies, his grace, his love, his kingdom, his
will, the riches of his goodness, and the bowels of his mercy, more and
more, when the world shaU neither see nor know any such thing.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 121
«
(2.) He enables his saints to communicate their mind, to reveal
their souls, unto him, that so they may walk together as intimate
friends. Christ knows the minds of all. He knows what is in man,
and needs not that any man testify of him, John ii. 25. He searcheth
the hearts and trieth the reins of aU, Rev. ii. 23. But all know not
how to communicate their mind to Christ. It will not avail a man
at all that Christ knows his mind; for so he doth of every one, whe
ther he will or no ; — but that a man can make his heart known unto
Christ, this is consolation. Hence the prayers of the saints are1 in
cense, odours; and those of others are3 howling, cutting off a dog's
neck, offering of swine's blood, — an abomination unto the Lord. Now,
three things are required to enable a man to communicate his heart
unto the Lord Jesus: — ¦
[1.] Assistance for ihe work; for of ourselves we cannot do it. And
this the saints have by the Spirit of Jesus, Rom. vUi. 26, 27, "Like
wise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities : for we know not what we
should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itseff maketh intercession
for us with groanings' which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh
intercession for the saints according to the wUl of God." All endea
vours, all attempts for communion with God, without the supplies of
the Spirit of supplications, without his effectual working in the heart,
is of no value, nor to any purpose. And this opening of our hearts
and bosoms to the Lord Jesus is that wherein he is exceedingly de-
Ughted. Hence is that affectionate caU of his unto us, to be treating
with him on this account, Cant. U. 14, "O my dove, that art in the
secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy
voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely." When
the soul on any account is driven to hide itseff, — in any neglected con
dition, in the most unlikely place of abode, — then doth he call for this
communication of itself by prayer to him; for which he gives the
assistance of the Spirit mentioned.
[2.] A way whereby to approach unto God with our desires.
This, also, we have by him provided for us, John xiv. 5, 6, " Thomas
saith unto Jesus, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can
we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the3 way; no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me." That way which we had of
going unto God at our creation is quite shut up by sin. The sword
of the law, which hath fire put into it by sin, turns every way, to stop
all passages unto communion with God. Jesus Christ hath " conse
crated a4 new and living way" (for the saints) " through the vaU,
1 Rev.viii.3. »Hos.vii.l4; Isa.lxvi.3; Prov. xxviii. 9. 3 "Vera via vitse."— Bez.
* " Via nullius ante trita solo. Upoo-Qxnt xxi Zpo-xt, recens interfectany tamen
viventem."

122 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
that is to say, his flesh," Heb. x. 20. He hath consecrated and set
it apart, for believers, and for them alone. Others pretend to go to
God with their prayers, but they come not nigh him. How can they
possibly come to the end who go not in the way? Christ only is the
way to the throne of grace ; none comes to God but by him. " By
him we have an access in one Spirit unto the Father," Eph. ii. 18.
These two things, then, the saints have for the opening of their hearts
at the throne of grace, — assistance and a way. The assistance of the
Spirit, without which they are nothing; and the way of Christ's me
diation, without which God is not to be approached unto.
[3.] Boldness to go unto God. The voice of sinners in them
selves, if once acquainted with the terror of the Lord, is, — " Who
among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall
dwell with everlasting burnings?" Isa. xxxiii. 14. And no marvel;1
shame and trembling before God are the proper issues of sin. God
will revenge that carnal, atheistical boldness which sinners out of
Christ do use towards him. But we have now " boldness to enter
into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and Uving way,
which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his
flesh : and having an high priest over the house of God, we may draw
near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith," Heb. x. 19, 20. The
truth is, such is the glory and terror of the Lord, such the infinite
perfection of his holiness, that, on clear sight of it, it wiU make the
soul conclude that of itself it3 cannot serve him ; nor wUl it be to any
advantage, but add to the fierceness of his destruction, once to draw
nigh to him. It is in Christ alone, and on the account alone of his
oblation and intercession, that we have any boldness to approach unto
him. And these three advantages have the saints of communicating
their minds unto -the Lord Christ, which he hath provided for them,
because he delights in them.
To touch a little by the way, because this is of great importance, I
will instance in one of these, as I might in every one, that you may
see the difference between a spiritual revealing of our minds unto
Christ in this acceptable manner, and that praying upon conviction
which others practise ; and this shall be from the first, — namely, the
assistance we have by the Spirit.
1st. The Spirit of Christ reveals to us our own wants, that we
may reveal them unto him: " We know not what we should pray for
as we ought," Rom. viii. 26; no "teachings under those of the Spirit of
God are able to make our souls acquainted with their own wants, — its
burdens, its temptations. For a soul to know its wants, its infirmities,
' Gen. iii. 8, 9.
1 Josh. xxiv. 19; Exod. xx. 19; Deut. v. 25, xviii, 16; Isa. xxxiii. 14; Mic.
7i. 6, 7. s Isa. xxxviii. 14.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 123
is a heavenly discovery. He that hath this Assistance, his prayer is
more than half made before he begins to pray. His conscience is
affected with what he hath to do ; his mind and spfrit contend within
him, there especially where he finds himself most straitened. He
brings his burden on his shoulders, and unloads himself on the Lord
Christ. He finds (not by a perplexing conviction, but a holy sense
and weariness of sin) where he is dead, where duU and cold, wherein
unbeUeving, wherein tempted above all his strength, where the light
of God's countenance is wanting. And aU these the soul hath a sense
of by the Spirit, — an inexpressible sense and experience. Without
this, prayer is not prayer; amen's voices may be heard, but they speak
not in their hearts. Sense of want is the spring of desire ; — natural,
of natural ; spiritual, of spiritual. Without this sense given by the
Holy Ghost, there is neither desire nor prayer.
2dly. The expressions, or the words of such persons, come exceed
ing short of ihe labouring of their hearts; and therefore, in and
after their supplications, " the Spirit makes intercession with sighs
and groans that cannot be 3uttered." Some men's words go exceed
ingly beyond their hearts. Did their spirits come up to their ex
pressions, it were well. He that hath this assistance can provide no
clothing that is large and broad enough to set forth the desires of
his heart; and therefore, in the close of his best and most fervent
supplications, such a person finds a double dissatisfaction in them: —
1. That they are not a righteousness to be rested on; that if God
should4 mark what is in them amiss, they could not abide the trial
2. That his heart in them is not poured out, nor delivered in any
proportion to the holy desires and labourings that were conceived
therein ; though he may in Christ have great refreshment by them.
The more they [saints] speak, the more they find they have left
unspoken. 3dly. The intercession of the saints thus assisted is according to
the mind of God; that is, they are guided by the Spirit to make
requests for those things unto God which it is his will they should
desire, — which he knows to be good for them, useful and suitable to
them, in the condition wherein they are. There are many ways
whereby we may know when we make our suppUcations according
to the wUl of God. I shall instance only in one; that is, when we
do it according to the promise: when our prayers are regulated by
• the promise, we make them according to the wUl of God. So David,
Ps. cxix. 49, " Remember the word upon which thou hast caused me
to hope." He prays, and regulates his desire by the word of promise
1 ""Tort_ivrvyx_xttiv, est advocatorum qui clientibus desideria dictant."
* 1 Sam. i. 13. 3 Isa. xxxviii. 14; Exod. xiv. 15.
4 Isa. lxiv. 6 ; Ps. cxxx. 3.

124 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
wherein he had trusted. But yet, men may ask that which is in the
promise, and yet not have their prayers regulated by the promise.
They may pray for what is in the promise, but not as it is in the
promise. So James says some " ask and receive not, because they ask
amiss, that they may spend it on their lusts," chap. iv. 3. Though the
things which God would have us ask be requested, yet if not accord
ing as he would have us do it, we ask amiss.
Two things are required, that we may pray for the things in the
promise, as they are in the promise: —
(1st.) That we look upon them as promised, and promised in Christ;
that is, that all the reason we have whence we hope for attaining
the things we ask for, is from the mediation and purchase of Christ,
in whom all the promises are yea and amen. This it is to ask the
Father in Christ's name, — God as a father, the fountain ; and Christ
as the procurer of them.
(2dly ) That we ask for them for the end of the promise, not to
spend on our lusts. When we ask pardon for sui, with secret1 reserves
in our hearts to continue in sin, we ask the choicest mercy of the
covenant, to spend it on our lusts. The end of the promise the
apostle tells us, 2 Cor. vU 1, " Having these promises, let us cleanse
ourselves from all pollution of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness
in the fear of God." When we ask what is in the promise, as it is in
the promise, to this end of the promise, our suppUcations are accord
ing to the will of God. And this is the first conjugal affection that
Christ exerciseth towards believers, — he delights in them; which that
he' doth is evident, as upon other considerations innumerable, so from
the instance given.
In return hereunto, for the carrying on of the communion between
them, the saints delight in Christ; he is their joy, thefr crown, their
rejoicing, their life, food, health, strength, desire, righteousness, sal
vation, blessedness: without hun they have nothing; in him they shall
find aU things. Gal. vi. 14, " God forbid that I should glory, save iu
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. " He hath, from the foundation of the
world, been the hope, expectation, desire, and delight of all beUevers.
The promise of him was aU (and it was enough) that God gave Adam
in his inexpressible distress, to reUeve and comfort him, Gen. iii. 15.
Eve perhaps supposed that the promised seed had been born in her
first-born, when she said, " I have gotten a man from3 the Lord" (so
most properly, n? denoting the fourth case) ; and this was the matter
i Ps. lxxviii. 35-37.
1 According to the view to which Owen refers, the preposition should be dropped
from the translation, and UK regarded as in apposition with Jehovah, — " I have
gotten a man, Jehovah." The particle cs occurs in this sense, as simply demon
strative, forty times in the first four chapters of Genesis. — Ed.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 125
of her joy, Gen. iv. 1. Lamech having Noah given to him as a type
of Christ and salvation by him, cries out, " This same shaU comfort
us concerning our work and toU of our hands, because of the ground
which the Lord hath cursed," Gen. v. 29 ; he rejoices in him who
was to take away the curse, by being made a curse for us. When
Abraham was in the height of his glory, returning from the conquest
of the kings of the east, that came against the confederate kings of
the vale of Sodom, God appears to him with a glorious promise, Gen.
xv. 1, " Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great
reward." What now could his soul more desire ? Alas ! he cries (as
Reuben afterward, upon the loss of Joseph), " The child is not, and
whither shall I go?" Verse 2, " Lord God, what wilt thou give me,
seeing I go childless?" " Thou hast promised that in my seed shaU
all the earth be blessed ; if I have not that seed, all ! what good wUl all
other things do me?" Thence it is said that he " rejoiced to see the
day of Christ; he saw it, and was glad," John vui 56; the thoughts
of the coming of Christ, which he looked on at the distance of two
thousand years, was the joy and delight of his heart. Jacob, blessing
his sons, lifted up his spirit when he comes to Judah, in whom he
considered the ShUoh to come, Gen. xlix. 8, 9; and a little after,
wearied with the foresight and consideration of the distresses of his
posterity, this he diverts to for his relief, as that great delight of his
soul: "I have waited for thy Salvation, 0 God;" — for him who was
to be the salvation of his people. But it would be endless to instance
in particulars. Old Simeon sums up the whole: Christ is God's
salvation, and Israel's glory, Luke ii. 30, 31; and whatever was called
the glory of old, it was either himself or a type of him. The glory
of man is their delight. Hence, Haggai U.. 7, he is called " The
Desire of all nations." Him whom thefr soul loves and delights in,
[they] desire and long after. So is the saints' dehght in him made
a description of him, by way of eminence, Mai. Ui. 1 : " The Lord
whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messen
ger of the covenant whom ye dehght in." "He whom ye seek,
whom ye delight in," is the description of Christ. He is their delight
and desfrable one, the person of thefr desire. To fix on something in
particular: —
In that pattern of communion with Jesus Christ which we have
in the Canticles, this is abundantly insisted on. The spouse teUs us
that she sits down under his shadow with great dehght, Cant. U. 3.
And this dehght to be vigorous and active, she manifests several ways;
wherein we should labour to find our hearts in like manner towards
him: —
1. By her exceeding great care to keep his company and society,
when once she had obtained it, chap. U. 7, " I charge you, 0 ye

126 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, 'and by the hinds of the field,
that ye stir not up, nor awake my love till he please." Having
obtained sweet communion with Christ, described in the verses fore
going (of which before), here she expresseth her delight in it and de
sire of the continuance of it; and therefore, following on the allusion
formerly insisted on, she speaks as one would do to her companion, [as
one] that had rest with one she loved : " I charge you, by all that is dear
to you, — by the things you most delight in, which among the creatures
are most lovely, all the pleasant and desirable things that you can
think of, — that you disturb him not." The' sum of her aim and desire
is, that nothing may fall out, nothing of sin or provocation happen,
that may occasion Christ to depart from her, or to remove from that
dispensation wherein he seemed to take that rest in her. " 0 stir him
not up until he please !" that1 is, never. n5n-0, — love itself in the ab
stract, to express a iruDog, or earnest affection ; for so that word is often
used. When once the soul of a believer hath obtained sweet and real
communion with Christ, it looks about him, watcheth all temptations,
all ways whereby sin might approach, to disturb him in his enjoy
ment of his dear Lord and Saviour, his rest and desire. How doth
it charge itself not to omit any thing, nor to do -any thing that may
interrupt the communion obtained ! And because the common en
trance of temptations, which tend to the disturbance of that rest and
complacency which Christ takes in the soul, is from delightful diver
sions from actual communion with him ; therefore is desire strong
and active that the companions of such a soul, those with whom it
doth converse, would not, by their proposals or aUurements, divert it
into any such frame as Christ cannot delight nor rest in. A be
liever that hath gotten Christ in his arms, is like one that hath found
great spoils, or a pearl of price. He looks about him every way, and
fears every thing that may deprive him of it. Riches make men
watchful ; and the actual sensible possession of him, in whom are aU
the riches and treasure of God, wiU make men look about them for
the keeping of him. The line of choicest communion, is a Une of the
greatest spiritual solicitousness: carelessness in the enjoyment of
Christ pretended, is a manifest evidence of a false heart.
2. The spouse manifests her delight in him, by the utmost im
patience of his absence, with desires still of nearer communion with
him.3 Chap. viii. 6, " Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon
thine arm : for love is strong as death ; jealousy is cruel as the grave :
the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame."
The allusion is doubtless from the high priest of the Jews, in his spi-
* ' "iEternitatem temporis juxta sensum mysticum in se includit, ut alias in Scrip
tura; quia nunquam a tali somno, id est, conjunctione cum sponso, excitari velit."
— Mer. in loc. 2 Hag. ii. 24; Jer. xxii. 24.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 127
ritual representation of the church before God. He had a breast
plate which he is said to wear on his heart, Exod. xxviu. 29, wherein
the names of the chUdren of Israel were engraven, after the manner
of seals or signets, and he bare them for a memorial before the Lord.
He had the Uke also upon his shoulders, or on his arms, verses 11, 12;
both representing the priesthood of Christ, who bears the names
of all his before his Father in the " holy of holies," Heb. ix. 24.
Now the seal on the heart, is near, inward, tender love and care,
which gives an impression and image on the heart of the thing so
loved. " Set me," saith the spouse, " as a seal upon thine heart;" —
" Let me be constantly fixed in thy most tender and affectionate love ;
let me always have a place in thine heart ; let me have an engraving,
a mighty impression of love, upon thineheart, that shah never be ob
literated." The soul is never satisfied with thoughts of Christ's love
to it. "0 that it were more, that it were more ! that I were as a ' seal
on his heart ! '" is its language. The soul knows, indeed, on serious
thoughts, that the love of Christ, is inconceivable, and cannot be in
creased ; but it would fain work up itseff to an apprehension of it :
and therefore she adds here, " Set me as a seal upon thine arm." The
heart is the fountain, but close and hidden ; .the arm is manifestation
andpower. " Let," saith the spouse, "thy love be manifested to me
in thy tender and powerful persuasion of me." Two things are evident
in this request : — the continual mindfulness of Christ of the soul, as
having its condition still in his eye, engraven on his arm, Isa. xlix.
15, 16, with the exalting of his power for the preservation of it, suit
able to the love of his heart unto it; and the manifestation of the
hidden love and care of the heart of Christ unto the soul, being made
visible on his arm, or evident by the fruit of it. This is that which
she would be assured of; and without a sense whereof there is no
rest to be obtained.
The reason she gives of this earnestness in her supplications, is that
which principaUy evinces her dehght in him: "Love is strong as
death, jealousy is cruel as the grave," or " hard as heU." This is the
intendment of what is so loftily set out by so many metaphors in this
and the following verse : — " I am not able to bear the workings of my
love to thee, unless I may always have society and feUowship with
thee. There is no satisfying of my love without it. It is as the1 grave,
that still says Give, give. Death is not satisfied without its prey; if
it have not all, it hath nothing: let what wiU happen, if death hath
uot its whole desire, it hath nothing at all. Nor can it be withstood
in its appointed season ; no ransom wUl be taken. So is my love ; if
I have thee not wholly, I have nothing. Nor can aU the world bribe
it to a diversion ; it will be no more turned aside than death in its
1 Prov. xxx. 16.

128 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
time. Also, I am not able to bear my jealous thoughts: I fear thou,
dost not love me, that thou hast forsaken me; because I know I de
serve not to be beloved. These thoughts are hard as hell ; they give
no rest to my soul : if I find not myself on thy heart and arm, I am
as one that lies down in a bed of coals." This also argues a holy
greediness of delight.
3. She farther manifests this by her soUcitousness, trouble, and
perplexity^ in his loss and withdrawings. Men bewaU the loss of .
that whose whole enjoyment they delight in; we easily bear the
absence of that whose presence is not delightful. This state of the
spouse is discovered, Cant. iU. 1-3, '' By1 night on my bed I sought
him whom3 my soul loveth : I sought him, but I found him not. I
will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and hi the broad
ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth : I sought him, but I
found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me : to
whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?" It is night now
with the soul, — a time of darkness and trouble, or affliction. When
ever Christ is absent, it is night with a beUever. He is the3 sun;
ii he go down upon them, if his beams be eclipsed, if in his Ught
they see ho hght, it is all darkness with them. - Here, whether the
coming of the night of any trouble on her made her discover Christ's
absence, or the absence of Christ made it night with her, is not ex
pressed. I rather think the latter; because, setting that aside, all
things seem to be well with her. The absence of Christ wiU indeed
make it night, dark as darkness itself, in the midst of aU other glow
ing consplations. But is the speuse centented with this dispensa
tion? She is uppn her bed, — that is, of ease (the bed, indeed, some
times signifies tribulatipn, Rev. u. 22 ; but in this book, everywhere,
rest and contentment : here is not the least intimation of any tribu
lation but what is in the want of Christ) ; but in the greatest peace
and opportunity of ease and rest, a believer finds none in the absence
of Christ : though he be on his bed, having nothing to disquiet him, he
rests not, if Christ, his rest, be not there. She " sought him." Seeking
of Christ by night, on the bed (that is, alone, in immediate inquest,
and in the dark), hath two parts: — searching of our own souls for
the cause of his absence; secondly, searching the promises for his
presence. (1.) The soul finding not Christ present in his wonted manner,
warming, cherishing, reviving it with love, nigh to it, supping with
it, always filling its thoughts with himself, dropping myrrh and sweet
» Isa. 1. 10.
' " Eleganter periphrasi utitur loco nominis proprii, ut vim amoris sui exprimat."
— Merc. " Ista repetitio assensum indicat et studium quo eum quserebat, et moero-
rem quo angebatur, quod occurrere non posset." — Idem.
» Mai. iv. 2.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 129
tastes of love into it; but, on the contrary, that other thoughts crowd
in and perplex the heart, and Christ is not nigh when inquired after;
it presently inquires into the cause of all this,1 calls itself to an ac
count what it hath done, how -it hath behaved itself, , that it is not
with it as at other times, — that Christ hath withdrawn himself, and
is not nigh to it in the wonted manner. Here it accomplisheth a
diligent search ; it considers the love, tenderness, and kindness of the
Lord Jesus, what delight he takes in abiding with his saints, so that
his departure is not without cause and provocation. " How," saith
it, "have I demeaned myself, that I have lost my Beloved? where
have I been wandering after other lovers?" And when the miscar
riage is found out, it abounds in revenge and indignation.
(2.) Having driven this to some issue, the soul appUeth itself to
the promises of the covenant, wherein Christ is most graciously exhi
bited unto it; considers one, ponders another, to find ataste of him; —
it considers diligently if it can see the deUghtful countenance and
favour of Christ in them or no. But now, if (as it often falls out)
the soul finds nothing but the carcase, but the bare letter, in the
promise, — if it come to it as to the grave of Christ, of which it may
be said (not in itself, but in respect of the seeking soul), " He is risen,
he is not here," — this amazes the soul', and it knows not what to do.
As a man that hath a jewel of great price, having no occasion to use
it, lays it aside, as he supposes, in a safe place; in an agony and
extremity of want going to seek for his jewel, he finds it not in the
place he expected, and is filled with amazement, and knows not what
to do; — so is it with this pearl of the gospel.. After a man hath sold
all that he hath for it, and enjoyed it for a season, then to have it
missing at a time of need, it must needs perplex him. So was it with
the spouse here. " I sought him," saith she, " but I found him not;"
a thing which not seldom befalls us in our communion with Christ.
But what doth she now do? doth she give over, and search no
more? Nay; but says she, verse 2, " 'I wiU arise;' I will not so
give over. I must have Christ, or die. I wUl now arise," (or, " let me
arise,") " and go about this business."
[1.] She resolves to put herself upon another course, a more vigor
ous inquest : " I will arise and make use of other means besides those
of private prayer, meditation, self-searching, and inquiring into the
promises;" which she had insisted on before. It carries, —
1st Resolution, and a zealous, violent casting off that frame
wherein she had lost her love. " ' 1 3 will arise ;' I wiU not rest in this
frame : I am undone if I do." So, sometimes God calls his church to
arise and shake itself out of the dust. Abide not in that condition.
2dly. Diligence. " I wUl now take another course; I wUl leave
1 2 Cor. xiii. 5. 2 Isa. Iii. 2, Ix. 1.
VOL. II. 9

] 30 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
no way unattempted, no means untried, whereby I may possibly re
cover communion with my Beloved."
This is the condition of a soul that finds not the wonted presence
of Christ in its private and more retired inquiries, — dull in prayer,
wandering in meditations, rare in thoughts of him, — " I wUl not
bear this frame : whatever way God hath appointed, I will, in his
strength, vigorously pursue, until this frame be altered, and I find my
Beloved." [2.] Then the way she puts herself upon, is to go about the city.
Not to insist upon particulars, nor to strain the parts of the allegory
too far, the city here intended is the city of God, the church; and
the passing through the broad and narrow streets, is the diligent in
quiry that the spouse makes in all the paths and ordinances given
unto it. This, then, is the next thing the soul addresses itself unto
in the want of Christ: — when it finds him not in any private endea
vours, it makes vigorous appUcation to the ordinances of public
worship; in prayer, in preaching, in administration of the seals, doth
it look after Christ. Indeed, the great inquiry the souls of behevers
make, in every ordinance, is after Christ. So much as they find of him,
so much sweetness and refreshment have they, and no more. Espe
cially when under any desertion, they rise up to this inquiry: they
Usten to every word, to every prayer, to find if any thing of Christ,
any light from him, any life, any love, appears to them. " Oh, that
Christ would at length meet me in this or that sermon, and recovel
. my poor heart to some sight of his love, — to some taste of kindness!"
The solicitousness of a believer in his inquest after Christ, when he
finds not his presence, either for grace or consolation, as in former
days, is indeed inexpressible. Much of the frame of such a heart is
couched in the redoubhng of the expression, " I sought him, I sought
him;" setting out an inconceivable passion, and suitably industrious
desire. Thus, being disappointed at home, the spouse proceeds.
But yet see the event oi this also : " She sought him, but found him
not." It doth sometimes so fall out, aU will not do : " They shaU seek
him, and not find him ;" they shall not come nigh him. Let them that
enjoy any thing of the presence of Christ take heed what they do;
if they provoke him to depart, if they lose him, it may cost them
many a bitter inquiry before they find him again. When a soul
prays and meditates, searches the promises in private; when it with
earnestness and diligence attends all ordinances in public, and aU to
get one glimpse of the face of Jesus Christ, and aU in vain, it is a sad
condition. What now follows in this estate? Verse 3, " The watchmen found
me," etc. That these watchmen of the city of God are the watchmen
and officers of the church, is confessed. And it is of sad consideration,

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 131
that the Holy Ghost doth sometimes in this book take notice of them
on no good account. Plainly, chap. v. 7, they turn persecutors. It
was Luther's saying, " Nunquam perichtatur religio nisi inter reve-
rendissimos." Here they are of a more gentle temper, and seeing
the poor disconsolate soul, they seem to take notice of her condition.
It is the duty, indeed, of faithful watchmen, to take notice of poor,
troubled, deserted souls; — not to keep at a distance, but to be willing
to assist. And a truly pressed soul on the account of Christ's absence
cannot cover its love, but must be inquiring after him : " Saw ye him
whom my soul loveth?" — " This is my condition: I have had sweet
enjoyment of my blessed Jesus, — he is now withdrawn from me. Can
you help me? can you guide me to my consolation. What acquaint
ance have you with him? when saw you him? how did he manifest
himself to you, and wherein?" All these labourings in his absence
sufficiently discover the soul's delight in the presence of Christ. Go
one step farther, to the discovery that it made of him once again, and
it wUl yet be more evident.' Verses 4, 5, " It was but a little that I
passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth : I held
him, and would not let him go, untU I had brought him into my
mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. I
charge you, 0 ye daughters of Jerusalem," etc.
First, She tells you how she came to him : " She found him ;" — what
ways and by what means is not expressed. It often so faUs out in
our communion with Christ, when private and public means fail, and
the soul hath nothing left but waiting silently and walking humbly,
Christ appears; that his so doing may be evidently of grace. Let us
not at any time give over in this condition. When all ways are past,
the summer and harvest are gone without relief, — when neither bed
nor watchmen can assist, — let us wait a little, and we shall see the
Salvation of God. Christ honours his immediate absolute actings
sometimes, though ordinarUy he crowns his ordinances. Christ often
manifests himself immediately, and out of ordinances, to, them that
wait for him in them ; — that he wiU do so to them that despise them,
I know not. Though he will meet men unexpectedly in his way,
yet he will not meet- them at aU out of it. Let us wait as he hath
appointed ; let him appear as he pleaseth. How she deals with him
when found is nextly declared: " She held hun, and would not let him
go," etc. They are all expressions of the greatest joy and delight
imaginable. The sum is: — having at length come once more to an
enjoyment of sweet communion with Christ, the soul lays fast hold
on him by faith (xpanTv, " to hold fast," is an act of faith), refuses to
part with him any more, in vehemency of love, — tries to keep him in
ordinances in the house of its mother, the church of God; and so uses
aU means for the confirming of the mutual love between Christ and

1 32 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
her: all the expressions, aU the allusions used, evidencing delight to
the utmost capacity of the soul. Should I pursue aU the instances
and testimonies that are given hereunto, in that one book of the Song
of Solomon, I must enter upon an exposition of the greatest part of
it; which is not my present business. Let the hearts of the saints
that are acquainted with these things be aUowed to make the close.
What is it they long for, they rejoice in ? what is it that satisfies
them to the utmost, and gives sweet complacency to their spirits in
every condition? what is it whose loss they fear, whose absence they
cannot bear ? Is it not this their Beloved, and he alone ?
This, also, they farther manifest by their delight in every thing that
peculiarly belongs to Christ, as his, in this world. This is an evidence
of delight, when, for his sake whom we delight in, we also delight in
every thing that belongs to him. Christ's great interest in this world
Ues in his people and his ordinances, — his household and their pro
vision. Now in both these do the samts exceedingly dehght, for his
sake. Take an instance in both kinds in one man, namely, David, Ps.
xvi. 3, "In the saints and the excellent" (or the noble) " of the earth
is all my delight; my delight in them." Christ says of his church
that she is " Hephzi-bah," Isa. lxii., " My delight in her." Here says
David of the same, " Hephzi-bam, — " My delight in them." As Christ
delights in his saints, so do they in one another, on his account.
" Here," says David, " is all my deUght." Whatever contentment he
took in any other persons, it was nothing in comparison of the delight
he took in them. Hence, mention is made of " laying down our
Uves for the brethren," or any common cause wherein the interest of
the community of the brethren does lie.
Secondly, For the ordinances, consider the same person. Ps. xhi,
lxxxiv., and xlvui., are such plentiful testimonies throughout, as we
need no farther inquiring; nor shall I go forth to a new discourse on
this particular.
And this is the first mutual consequential act of conjugal affection,
in this communion between Christ and believers: — he delights in
them, and they delight in him. He delights in their prosperity, hath
pleasure in it ; they delight in his honour and glory, and in his pre
sence with them. For his sake they delight in his servants (though
by the world contemned) as the most exceUent ih the world; and in
his ordinances, as the wisdom of God; — which are foolishness to the
world.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 133

CHAPTER V.
Other consequential affections : — 1. On the part of Christ — He values his saints —
Evidences of that valuation : — (1.) His incarnation ; (2.) Exinanition, 2 Cor.
viii. 9 ; Phil. ii. 6, 7 ; (3 ) Obedience as a servant ; (4.) In his death. His
valuation of them in comparison of others. 2. Believers' estimation of Christ :
— (1.) They value him above all other things and persons; (2.) Above their
own lives; (3.) All spiritual excellencies. The sum of all on the part of
Christ — The sum on the part of believers. The third conjugal affection — On
the part of Christ, pity or compassion — Wherein manifested — Suffering and
supply, fruits of compassion — Several ways whereby Christ relieves the saints
under temptations — His compassion in their afflictions. Chastity, the third
conjugal affection in the saints. The fourth — On the part of Christ, bounty ;
on the part of the saints, duty.
II. Christ values his saints, values believers (which is the second
branch of that conjugal affection he bears towards them), having taken
them into the relation whereof we speak. I shall not need to insist
long pn the demonstration hereof; heaven and earth are full of evi
dences of it. Some few considerations wUl give life to the assertion.
Consider them, then, — 1. Absolutely; 2. Jn respect of others; and
you will see what a valuation he puts upon them : —
1. All that ever he did or doth, all that ever he underwent or
suffered as mediator, was for their sakes. Now, these things were so
great and grievous, that had he not esteemed them above all that can
be expressed, he had never engaged to their performance and under
going; Take a few instances: —
(1.) For their sakes was he "made1 flesh;' "manifested in the flesh."
Heb. ii. 14, " Forasmuch then as the chUdren are partakers of flesh and
blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same." And the height
of this valuation of them the apostle aggravates. Verse 16, " Verily
he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed
of Abraham;" he had no such esteem of angels. Whether you take
im\apGuvi<f6ai, properly to " take," or to " take hold of," as our trans
lators, and so supply the word " nature," and refer the whole unto
Christ's incarnation, who therein took our nature on him, and not the
nature of angels ; or for ava\ap£dviet)ai, to " help," (he did not help nor
succour faUen angels; but he did help and3 succour the seed of Abra
ham,) and so consider it as the fruit of Christ's incarnation, — it is all
one, as to our present business: his preferring the seed of Abraham
before angels, his valuing them above the other, is plainly expressed.
And observe, that he came to help the seed of Abraham, — that is,3
believers. His esteem and valuation is of them only.
' John i. 14; 1 Tim. iii. 16. » Vide Vind. Evan., cap. xiii. vol. xii.
• Rom. iv. 17; Gal. iii. 7.

134 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
(2.) For their sakes he was so made flesh, as that there was an
emptying, an exinanition of himself, and an eclipsing of his glory,
and a becoming poor for them, 2 Cor. vUi. 9, "Ye know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became
poor." Being rich in eternal glory with his Father, John xviL 5, he
became poor for beUevers. The same person that was rich was also
poor. That the riches here meant can be none but those of the Deity,
is evident, by its opposition to the poverty which as man he undertook.
This is also more fully expressed, Phil. U. 6, 7, " Who being in the
form of God, counted it no robbery to be equal to God, but he
emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and being made in the
fashion of a man, ahd found in form as a man," etc. That the " form
of God" is here the essence of the Deity, sundry things inevitably
evince; as, —
[1.] That he was therein1 equal to God ; that is, his Father. Now,
nothing but God is equal to God. Not3 Christ as he is mediator, in
his greatest glory, — nothing but that which is infinite, is equal to
that which is infinite.
[2.] The form of God is opposed to the form of a servant; and'
that form of a servant is called the " fashion of a man," verse 8, — that
fashion wherein he was found when he gave himself tp death, wherein
as a man he poured out his blood and died. Moptpw ooiXou Xa&iiv
(he "took the form of a servant"), is expounded in the next words, h
6/j,oi<A/Aari uvUptLvajv yivofiivog, — an expression used to set out his incarna
tion, Rom. vni. 3. God sent him h b/ioiu>/i,ari eapxbg uftapriag' in taking
true flesh, he was in the " Ukeness of sinful flesh." Now, in thus
doing, it is said lavrbt hximee, — " he humbled, emptied himself, made
himself of no reputation." In the very taking qf flesh, there was a con
descension, a debasing of the person of the Son of God ; it could not be
without it. If God humbled himself to " behold the things that are in
heaven, and in the earth," Ps. cxiii. 6, then certamly it was an incon
ceivable condescension and abasement, not only to behold, but take
upon him (into personal union) our nature with himself. And though
nothing could possibly be taken off from the essential glory of the
Deity, yet that person appearing in the fashion of a man, and form
of a servant, the glory of it, as to the manifestation, was eclipsed ; and
he appeared8 quite another thing than what indeed he was, and had
been from eternity. Hence he prays that his Father would " glorify
him with the glory he had with him before the world was," John
xvii. 5, as to the manifestation of it. And so, though the' divine
nature was not abased, the person was.
(3.) For their sakes he so humbled and emptied himself, in taking
flesh, as to become therein a servant, — in the eyes of the world of no
* ' See Vind. Evan., cap. xiii. vol. xii. ' John xiv. 28. * Isa. liii. 2.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 135
esteem nor account; and a true and real servant1 unto the Father.
For their sakes he humbled himself, and became obedient. AU'that
he did and suffered in his life comes under this consideration ; all which
may be referred to these three heads: — 3[1.] Fulfilling all righteous
ness. [2.] Enduring all manner of persecutions and hardships.
[3.] Doing all manner of good to men. He took on him, for their
sakes, a Ufe and course pointed to, Heb. v. 7, 8, — a life of prayers,
tears, fears, obedience, suffering; and all this with cheerfulness and
delight, calling his employment his " meat and drink," and still pro
fessing that the law of this obedience was in his3 heart, — that he was
content to do this will of God. He that wUl sorely revenge the least
opposition that is or shall be made to him by others, was content to
undergo any thing, all things, for beUevers.
(4.) He stays not here, but (for the consummation of aU that went
before) for their sakes he becomes obedient to death, the death of the
cross. So he professeth to his Father, John xvii. 19, " For their sakes
I sanctify myself;" — " I dedicate myself as an offering, as a sacrifice,
to be killed and slain." This was his aim in all the former, that he
might die ; he was born, and 4Uved, that he might die. He valued
them above his life. And if we might stay to consider a little what
was in this death that he underwent for them, we should perceive
what a price indeed he put upon them. The curseb of the law was
in it, the " 'wrath of God was in it, the loss of God's 7 presence was in
it. It was a 8 fearful cup that he tasted of, and drank of, that they
might never taste of it. A man would not for ten thousand worlds
be wiUing to undergo that which Christ underwent for us in that one
thing of desertion from God, were it attended with no more distress
but what a mere creature might possibly emerge from under. And
what thoughts we should have of this himself tells us, John xv. 13,
" Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his Ufe for
his friends." It is impossible there should be any greater demonstra
tion or evidence of love than this. What can any one do more? And
yet he tells us in another place, that it hath another aggravation and
heightening, Rom. v. 8, " God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." When he did
this for us we were sinners, and enemies, whom he might justly have
destroyed. What more can be done? — to die for us when we were
sinners! Such a death, in such a manner, with such attendancies of
wrath and curse, — a death accompanied with the worst that God had
ever threatened to smners, — argues as high a valuation of us as the
heart of Christ himself was capable of.
1 Isa. xiii. 1, 19; John xiv. 31. s Matt. iii. 15. ! Heb. x. 7, 8.
* Heb. ii. 14, 15. » Gal. iii. 13. e 2 Cor. v. 21. ' Ps. xxii. 1.
8 Matt, xxvi. 39.

136 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
For one to part with his glory, his riches, Ids ease, his Ufe, his love
from God, to undergo loss, shame, wrath, curse, death, for another, is
an evidence of a dear valuation; and that it was all on this account,
we are informed, Heb. xii. 2. Certainly Christ had a dear esteem of
them, that, rather than they should perish, — that they should not be
his, and be made partakers of his glory, — he would part with aU he
had for their sakes, Eph. v. 25, 26.
There would be no end, should I go through all the instances of
Christ's valuation of believers, in all thefr deUverances, afflictions, in
all conditions of sinning and suffering, — what he hath done, what he
doth in his intercession, what he delivers them from, what he pro
cures for them ; all telling out this one thing, — they are the apple of
his eye, his jewel, his diadem, his crown.
2. In comparison of others. All the world is nothing to him in
comparison of them. They are his garden; the rest of the world, a
wilderness. Cant. iv. 12, "A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse;
a spring shut up, a fountain sealed." They are his inheritance; the
rest, his enemies, of no regard with him. So Isa. xliii. 3, 4, " I am
the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour : I gave
Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast
'precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved
thee: therefore wiU I give men for thee, and people for thy Ufe."
The reason of this dealing of Christ with his church, in parting with
all others for them, is, because he loves her. She is precious and
honourable in his sight ; thence he puts this great esteem upon her.
Indeed, he disposeth of aU nations and their interests according as is
for the good of believers. Amos ix. 9, in all the siftings of the nations,
the eye of God is upon the house of Israel; not a grain of them shaU
perish. Look to heaven ; angels are appointed to minister for them,
Heb. i. 14. Look into the world; the nations in general are either
2blessed for their sakes, or 3 destroyed on their account, — preserved to
try them, or rejected for their cruelty towards them ; and wiU receive
from Christ their 4final doom according to their deportment towards
these despised ones. On this account are the piUars of the earth borne
up, and patience is exercised towards the perishing world. In a word,
there is not the meanest, the weakest, the poorest believer on the
earth, but Christ prizeth him more than aU the world besides. Were
our hearts filled much with thoughts hereof, it would tend much to
our consolation.
To answer this, believers also value Jesus Christ; they have an
esteem of him above all the world, and all thmgs in the world. You
1 " Amorem istum non esse vulgarem ostendit, dum nos pretiosos esse dicit." 
Calv. in loc. • Gen. xii. 3; Mic. v. 7, 8.
3 Isa, xxxiv. 8, lxi. 2, Ixiii. 4. ' Matt. xxv. 41-46. /

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 137
have been in part acquainted with this before, in the account that was
given of their dehght in him, and inquiry after him. They say of
him in their hearts continually, as David, " Whom have I in heaven
but thee ? and none upon earth I desire beside thee." Ps. Ixxiii. 25.
Neither heaven nor earth will yield them an object any way compar
able to him, that they can delight in.
1. They value him above all other things and persons. " Mallem,"
said one,1 "ruere cum Christo, quam regnare cum Csesare. Pulchra
terra, pulchrum coelum, sed pulcherrimus dominus Jesus ;"- — Christ
and a dungeon, Christ and a cross, is infinitely sweeter than a crown,
a sceptre without him, to thefr souls. So was it -with Moses, Heb.
xi 26, " He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the
treasures in Egypt." The reproach of Christ is the worst consequent
that the wickedness of the' world or the malice of Satan can bring
upon the foUowers of him. The treasures of Egypt were in these
days the greatest in the werld ; Moses despised the very best of the
world, for the worst of the cross of Christ. Indeed, himself hath told
believers, that if they love any thing better than him, father or
mother, they are not worthy of him. A despising of aU things for
Christ is the very first lesson of the gospel. " Give away aU, take up
the cross and follow me," was the way whereby he tried his disciples
of old ; and if there be not the same mind and heart in us, we are
none of his,
2. They value him above their lives. Acts xx. 24, "My life is not
dear, that I may perfect my course with joy, and the ministry I have
received of the Lord Jesus;" — "Let life and all go, so that I may
serve him ; and, when all is done, enjoy him, and be made like to him."
It is known what is reported of "Ignatius when he was led to mar
tyrdom: "Let what will," said he, "come upon me, only so I may
obtain Jesus Christ." Hence they of old rejoiced when whipped,
scourged, put to shame, for his sake, Acts v. 41 ; Heb. xi. All is wel
come that comes from him, or for him. The lives they have to live,
the death they have to die, is Uttle, is light, upon the thoughts of him
who is the stay of their Uves and the end of their death. Were it
not for the refreshment which daUy they receive by thoughts of him,
they could not live, — their lives would be a burden to them ; and the
thoughts of enjoyment of him made them cry with Paul, " Oh that
we were dissolved ! " The stories of the martyrs of old and of late,
the sufferers in giving witness to him under the dragon and under
the false prophet, the neglect of Ufe in women and chUdren on his
1 Luther.
3 Nyv &py_o/txi ittxi ftxSnrng, ovSit rovrait rut opu/titut i-fiGv/tu, 'itx rot 'lytrovv Xpto-rot iSpu.
Ilvp, a-rxvpog, Snpix, ffvyxXxo-is Iffriut, xx) rut /ttXait o'ixo-irxo-/tbs, xx) -rxtrig rov ffu/txrog
evvrpiSri, xx) {Sxtrxvol rov "hiaZ'oXov lis t/ti iXluo-iv, Itx 'Xtlirov X{«rT0« xroXxvru. — Vit. Ignat.
[Hieronymus, De Viris Ulustribus, u. xvi.]

138 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
account, contempt of torments, whUst his name sweetened aU, have
rendered this truth clear to men and angels.
3. They value him above all spiritual excellencies, and aU other
righteousness whatever, PhU. ui. 7, 8, " Those things which were ad
vantage to me, I esteemed loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord ; for whose sake I have lost all things, and
do esteem them common, that I may gain Christ, and be found in
him." Having recounted the excellencies which he had, and the
privileges which he enjoyed, in his Judaism, — which were aU of a spi
ritual nature, and a participation wherein made the rest of his coun
trymen despise all the world, and look upon themselves as the only
acceptable persons with God, resting on them for righteousness, — the
apostle tells us what is his esteem of them, in comparison of the Lord
Jesus. They are " loss and dung," — things that for his sake he had
really suffered the loss of; that is, whereas he had for many years been
a zealot of the law, — seeking after a righteousness as it were by the
works of it, Rom. ix. 32; — instantly serving God day and night, to
obtain the promise, Acts xxvL 7, — Uving in all good conscience from
his youth, Acts xxui., — all the whUe very zealous for God and his in
stitutions,^ — now [he] willingly casts away aU these things, looks upon
them, as loss and dung, and could not only be contented to be with
out them, but, as for that end for which he sought after them, he
abhorred them all. When men have been strongly convinced of their
duty, and have laboured many years to keep a 1good conscience, — have
prayed, and heard, and done good, and denied themselves, and been
szealous for God, and laboured with aU their -might to 3please him,
and so at length to come to enjoy him; they had rather 4part with
all the world, life and all, than with this they have wrought. You
know how unwilling we are to part with any thing we have laboured
and beaten our heads about? How much more when the things are
so excellent, as our duty to God, blamelessness of conversation, hope
of heaven, and the like, which we have beaten our hearts about. But
now, when once Christ appears to the soul, when he is known in his
excellency, all these things, as without him, have their paint washed
off, their beauty fades, their desirableness vanisheth, and the soul is
not only contented to part with them all, but puts them away as a
defiled thing, and cries, " In the Lord Jesus only is my righteousness"
and glory." Prov. iii. 13-15, among innumerable testimonies, may
be admitted to give witness hereunto, "Happy is the man that findeth
wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchan
dise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain there
of than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies : and all the
1 Acts xxiii. 1. * Rom. x. 2, 3. 8 Acts xxvi. 7.
» John ix. 40; Rom. ix. 30, 31. 5 Isa. xiv. 24.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 139
things that thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her." It is
of Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God, the eternal Wisdom of the Father,
that the Holy Ghost speaks ; as is evident from the description which
is given hereof, chap. viii. He and his ways are better than sUver and
gold, rubies, and all desirable things; as in the gospel he likens him
self to the1 " pearl in the field," which when the merchantman finds,
he sells all that he hath, to purchase. AU goes for Christ; — all right
eousness without him, all ways of religion, all goes for that one pearl.
The glory of his Deity, the exceUency of his person, his all-conquer
ing desirableness, ineffable love, wonderful undertaking, unspeakable
condescensions, effectual mediation, complete righteousness, Ue in
their eyes, ravish their hearts, fill their affections, and possess their
souls. And this is the second mutual conjugal affection between
Christ and believers ; all which, on the part of Christ, may be re
ferred untp two heads: —
1. All that he parted withal, aU that he did, all that he suffered,
all that he doth as mediator; he parted withal, did, suffered, doth,
on the account of his Hove to and esteem of believers. He parted
with the greatest glory, he underwent the greatest misery, he doth
the greatest works that ever were, because he loves his spouse, — be
cause he values believers. What can more, what can farther be spoken ?
how little is the depth of that which is spoken fathomed ! how unable
are we to look into the mysterious recesses of it ! He so loves, so
values his saints, as that, having from eternity undertaken to bring
them to God, he rejoices his soul in the thoughts of it; and pursues
his design through heaven and heU, Ufe and death, by suffering and
doing, in mercy and with power; and ceaseth not until he bring it
to perfection. For, —
2. He doth so value them, as that he wUl not lose any of them
to eternity, though aU the world should combine to take them out
of his hand. When in the days of his flesh he foresaw what opposi
tion, what danger, what rocks they should meet withal, he cried out,
" Holy Father, keep them," John xvU 11 ; — " Let not one of them be
lost;" and tells us plainly, John x. 28, that no man shaU take his sheep
out of his hand. And because he was then in the form of a servant,
and it might be supposed that he might not be able to hold them,
he tells them true, as to his present condition of carrying on the work
of mediatien, his "Father was greater than he;"3 and therefore to
him he committed them, and none should take them out of his
Father's hand, John x. 29. And whereas the world, afflictions, and

1 Matt. xiii. 45, 46. " Principium culmenque omnium rerum pretii, margaritffi
aent." — Plin.
2 Gal. ii. 20; J<
• John xiv. 28.

tenent." — Plin.
» Gal. ii. 20; John xiii. 34; Rev. i. 5, 6; Eph. v. 25, 26; Heb.x. 9, 10.

140 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST
persecutions, which are without, may be conquered, and yet no secu
rity given but that sin from within, by the assistance of Satan, may
prevail against them to their ruin ; as he hath provided against Satan,
in his promise that the gates of hell shaU not prevaU agamst them,
so he hath taken care that sin itself shaU not destroy them. Herein,
indeed, is the depth of his love to be contemplated, that whereas his
holy soul hates every sin (it is a burden, an abomination, a new wound-
to him), and his poor spouse is sinful (beUevers are full of sins, fail
ings, and infirmities), he hides aU, covers all, bears with all, rather
than he wUl lose them; by his power preserving them from such sins
as a remedy is not provided for in the covenant of grace. Oh, the
world of sinful follies that our dear Lord Jesus bears withal on this
account! Are not our own souls astonished with the thoughts of it?
Infinite patience, infinite forbearance, infinite love, infinite grace,
infinite mercy, are all set on work for this end, to answer this his
valuation of us.
On our part it may also be referred to two heads: —
1. That, upon the discovery of him to our souls, they rejoice to
xpart with all things wherein they have dehghted or reposed their
confidence, for him and his sake, that they may enjoy him. Sin and
lust, pleasure and profit, righteousness and duty, in thefr several
conditions, all shall go, so they may have Christ.
2. That they are wiUing to part with all things rather than with
3 him, when they do enjoy him. To think of parting with peace, health,
liberty, relations, wives, children; it is offensive, heavy, and grievous
to the best of the saints: but their souls cannot bear the thoughts
of parting with Jesus Christ; such a thought is cruel as the grave.
The worst thoughts that, in any fear, 3in desertions, they have of4
hell, is, that they shall not enjoy Jesus Christ. So they may enjoy
him here, hereafter be Uke him, be ever with him, stand in his pre
sence; they can part with all things freely, cheerfully, be they never
so beautiful, in reference to this life or that which is to come.
III. The third conjugal affection on the part of Christ is pity and
compassion. As a man " nourisheth and cherisheth his "own flesh,
so doth the Lord his church," Eph. v. 29. Christ hath a fellow feel
ing with his saints in all their troubles, as a man hath with his own
flesh. This act of the conjugal love of Christ relates to the many
trials and pressures of afflictions that his saints meet withal here
below. He doth not deal with believers as the Samaritans with the
Jews, that fawned on them in thefr prosperity, but despised them in
' Matt. xiii. 45, 46; Phil. iii. 8. > Matt. x. 37. s Cant. viii. 6.
* Kx) rovr'o /tot ruv iv eftiov xoXxo-iuv Ptxpyrtppt xv li»j. — Basil.
5 " Fateor insitam esse nobis corporis nostri caritatem." — Senec. Epist. xiv.
" Generi animantium omni est a natura tributum ut se, vitam, corpusque tueatur."
— Cicer. Off. i. [iv.]

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 141
their trouble; he is as a tender father, who, though perhaps he love
aU his children alike, yet he wUl take most pains with, and give most
of his presence unto, one that is sick and weak, though therein and
thereby he may be made most froward, and, as it should seem, hardest
to be borne with. And (which is more than the pity of any father
can extend to) he himself suffers with them, and takes share in all
their troubles.
Now, all the sufferings of the saints in this world, wherein their
head and husband exerciseth pity, tenderness, care, and compassion
towards them, are of two sorts, or may be referred to two heads : —
1. Temptations. 2. Afflictions.
1. Temptations (under which head I comprise sin also, whereto
they tend); as in, from, and by thefr own infirmities; as also from
their adversaries without. The frame of the heart of Christ, and his
deportment towards them in this condition, you have, Heb. iv. 15, "We
have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities." We have not such a one as cannot. The two negations
do vehemently affirm that we have such an high priest as can be, or
is, touched. The word " touched" comes exceedingly short of express
ing the original word; it is 'Vu/Mraajjtfa/, — to " suffer together." "We
have," saith the apostle, " such an high priest as can, and conse
quently doth, suffer with us, — endure our infirmities." And in what
respect he suffers with us in regard of our infirmities, or hath a
fellow-feeling with us in them, he declares in the next words, " He
was tempted Uke as we are," verse 15. It is as to our 'infirmities,
our temptations, spiritual weakness; therein, in particular, hath he a
compassionate sympathy and fellow-feeling with us. Whatever be
our infirmities, so far as they are our temptations, he doth suffer
with us under them, and compassionates us. Hence at the last May
he saith, " I was an hungered," etc. There are two ways of expressing
a fellow-feeling and suffering with another: — (1.) Per benevolam
condolentiam, — a " friendly grieving." (2.) Per gratiosam opitu-
lationem, — a "gracious supply:" both are eminent in Christ: —
(1.) He s grieves and labours with us. Zech. i 12, " The angel of
the Lord answered and said, 0 Lord of hosts, how long wUt thou
not have mercy on Jerusalem?" He speaks as one intimately affected
1 Ps. ciii.T3.
2 " Hoc quidem certum est, hoc vocabulo, summum ilium consensum membro-
rum et capitis (id est, ecclesiae et Christi) significari, de quo toties Paulus dis-
serit. Deinde ut cum de Deo loquitur, ita, etiam de Christo gloripso disserens
Scriptura, ad nostrum "captum se demittit. Gloriosum autem ad dextram patris
Christum sedere credimus; ubi dicitur nostris malis afiici, quod sibi factum
ducat quicquid nobis fit injuria?, ideo damans e ooelis, Saul cur me persequeris!
Altiores speculationes scmtari, nee utile nee tutum existimo." — Bez. in loc.
a Rom. viii. 26; 1 Cor. xi. 32; 2 Cor. xi. 30, xii. 9, 10; Gal. iv. 13.
* Matt. xxv. 35. e Acts ix. 4; Isa. Ixiii. 9.

142 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
with the state and condition of poor Jerusalem; and therefore he hath
bid aU the world take notice that what is done to them is done to
him, chap. ii. 8, 9 ; yea, to " the 2apple of his eye."
(2.) In the second he abounds. Isa. xl. 11, " He shall feed his
flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and
carry them in his bosom, and gently lead them that are with young."
Yea, we have both here together, — tender compassionateness and as
sistance. The whole frame wherein he is here described is a "frame
of the greatest 'tenderness, compassion, condescension that can be
imagined. His people are set forth under many infirmities; some
are lambs, some great with young, some very tender, some burdened
with temptations, — nothing in any of them all strong or comely. To
them all Christ is 4a shepherd, that feeds his own sheep, and drives
them out to pleasant pasture ; where, if he sees a poor weak lamb,
[he] doth not thrust him on, but takes him into his bosom, where he
both easeth and refresheth him: he leads him gently and tenderly.
As did Jacob them that were burdened with "young, so doth our dear
Lord Jesus with his flock, in the several ways and paths wherein he
leads them. When he sees a poor soul, weak, tender, halting, ready
to sink and perish, he takes him into his arms, by some gracious pro
mise administered to him, carries him, bears him up when he is not
able to go one step forward. Hence is his great quarrel with those
shepherds, Ezek. xxxiv. 4, " Woe be to you shepherds ! the diseased
have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick,
neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye
brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought
that which was lost." This is that which our careful, tender husband
would have done.
So mention being made of his compassionateness and fellow-suffer
ing with us, Heb. iv. 15, it is added, verse 16, that he administers
yaptv tig ivxaipov fioijhiav, — seasonable grace, grace for help in a time of
need. This is an evidence of compassion, when, like the Samaritan,
we afford seasonable help. To lament our troubles or miseries, with
out affording help, is to no purpose. Now, this Christ doth ; he gives
tvxatpw fiotjhiay, — seasonable help. Help being a thing that regards
want, is always excellent; but its coming in season puts a crown
1 Deut. xxxii. 10; Ps. xvii. 8.
a " En ipse capellas
Protinus aeger ago; hanc etiam vix Tityre duco," etc.
— Virg. [Ec. i. 12.]
8 " Quod frequenter in Scriptura, pastoris nomen Deus usurpat, personamqne
induit, non vulgare est teneri in nos amoris signum. Nam quum humilis et ab-
jecta sit loquendi forma, singulariter erga nos aifectus sit oportet, qui se nostra
causa ita demittere non gravatur: mirum itaque nisi tam blanda et familiaris invi-
tatio ad eum nos alliciat." — Calvin in Ps. xxiii. 1.
' Heb. xiii. 20; 1 Pet. ii. 25, v. 4; Ps. xxiii. 1; Zech. xiii. 7; Isa. xl. 11;
l.z„ xxxiv. 23; John x. 11, 14, 16. e Gen. xxxiii. 13.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. ' 143
upon it. A pardon to a malefactor when he is ready to be executed,
is sweet and welcome. Such is the assistance given by Christ. All
his saints may take this as a sure rule, both in thefr temptations and
afflictions : — when they can want them, they shall not want relief;' and
when they can bear no longer, they shall be relieved, 1 Cor. x. 13.
So it is said emphatically of him, Heb. u. 18, " In that he him
self hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are
tempted." It is true, there is something in all our temptations more
than was in the temptation of Christ. There is something in our
selves to take part with every temptation ; and there is enough in
ourselves to Hempt us, though nothing else should appear against
us. With Christ it was not so, John xiv. 30. But this is so far from
taking off his compassion towards us, that, on aU accounts whatever,
it doth increase it; for if he wUl give us succour because we are
tempted, the sorer our temptations are, the more ready wUl he be to
succour us. Take some instances of Christ's giving eixaipov (3oq()iiav, —
seasonable help in and under temptations unto sin. Now this he doth
several ways : —
[1.] By keeping the soul which is liable to temptation and exposed
to it, in a strong habitual bent against that sin that he is obnoxious
to the assaults of. So it was in the case of Joseph : Christ knew that
Joseph's great trial, and that whereon if he had been conquered he
had been undone, would Ue upon the hand of his mistress tempting
him to lewdness ; whereupon he kept his heart in a steady frame
against that sin, as his answer without the least deliberation argues,
Gen. xxxix. 9. In other things, wherein he was not so deeply con
cerned, Joseph's heart was not so fortified by habitual grace; as it
appears by his swearing by the "life of Pharaoh. This is one way
whereby Christ gives suitable help to his, in tenderness and compas
sion. The saints, in the course of their lives, by the company, society,
business, they are cast upon, are Uable and exposed to temptations
great and violent, some in one kind, some in another. Herein is
Christ exceedingly kind and tender to them, in fortifying their hearts
with abundance of grace as to that sin unto temptations whereunto
they are most exposed ; when perhaps in other things they are very
weak, and are often surprised.
[2.] Christ sometimes, by some strong impulse of actual grace,
recovers the soul frpm the very borders of sin. So it was in the case
of David, 1 Sam. xxiv. 4-6. " He was almost gone," as he speaks
himself; " his feet had weU-nigh slipped." The temptation was at
the door of prevalency, when a mighty impulse of grace recovers him.
To show his saints what they are, their own weakness and infirmity,
he sometimes suffers them to go to the very edge and brow of the
1 James i. 14, 16. a Gen. xiii. 15.

144 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
hill, and then causeth them to hear a word behind them saying,
"This is the right way, walk in it," — and that with power and efficacy,
and so recovers them to himself.
[3.] By taking away the temptation itself, when it grows so strong
and violent that the poor soul knows not what to do. This is caUed
" delivering the godly out of temptation," 2 Pet. ii. 9, as a man is
plucked out of the snare, and the snare left behind to hold another.
This have I known to be the case of many, ih sundry perplexing
temptations. When they have been quite weary, have tried all means
of help and assistance, and have not been able to come to a comfort
able issue, on a sudden, unexpectedly, the Lord Christ, in his tender
ness and compassion, rebukes Satan, that 'they hear not one word
more of him as to their temptation. Christ comes in in the stcrm,
and saith, " Peace, be still."
[4.] By giving in fresh supplies of grace, acccrding as temptations
do grow or increase. So was it in the case of Paul, 2 Cor. xu. 9,
" My grace is sufficient for thee." The temptation, whatever it were,
grew high; Paul was earnest for its removal; and receives only this
answer, of the sufficiency of the grace of God . for his supportment,
notwithstanding all the growth and increase of the temptation.
[5.] By giving them wisdom to make a right, holy, and spiritual
improvement of all temptations. James bids us " count it aU joy
when we fall into divers temptations," James i 2: which could
not be done were there not a holy and spiritual use to be made of
them ; which also himself manifests in the words following. There
are manifold uses of temptations, which experienced Christians, with
assistance suitable from Christ, may make of them. This is not the
least, that by them we are brought to know ourselves. So Hezekiah
was left to be tried, to know what was in him. By temptation, some
bosom, hidden corruption is oftentimes discovered, that the soul knew
not of before. As it was with1 Hazael in respect of enormous crimes,
so in lesser things with the saints. They would never have beheved
there had been such lusts and corruptions in them as they have dis
covered upon thefr temptations. Yea, divers having been tempted
to one sin, have discovered another that they thought not of; as
some, being tempted to pride, or worldUness, or looseness of conversa
tion, have been startled by it, and led to a discovery of neglect of
many duties and much communion with God, which before they
thought not of. And this is from the tender care of Jesus Christ,
giving them in suitable help; without which no man can possibly
make use of or improve a temptation. And this is a suitable help
indeed, whereby a temptation which otherwise, or to other persons,
might be a deadly Wound, proves the lancing of a festered sore, and
1 2 King viii. 13.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 145
the letting out of corruption that otherwise might have endangered
the life itself. So, 1 Pet. i. 6, " If need be ye are in heaviness through
manifold temptations."
[6.] When the soul is at any time more or less overcome by temp
tations, Christ in his tenderness relieves it with mercy and pardon;
so that his shall not sink utterly under their burden, 1 John ii. 1, 2.
By one, more, or all of these ways, doth the Lord Jesus manifest his
conjugal tenderness and compassion towards the saints, in and under
their temptations.
2. Christ is compassionate towards them in their afflictions: "In
all their affliction he is afflicted," Isa. Ixiii. 9; yea, it seems that all
our afflictions (at least those of one sort, — namely, which consist in
persecutions) are his in the first place, ours only by participation. Col.
i 24, We1 " fill up the measure of the afflictions cf Christ." Two
things evidently manifest this compassionateness in Christ : —
(1.) His interceding with his Father for their relief, Zech. i. 12.
Christ intercedeth on our behalf, not only in respect of our sins, but
also our sufferings; and when the work of our afflictions is accom
plished, we shall have the relief3 he intercedes for. The Father
always hears him; and we have not a deliverance from trouble, a
recovering of health, ease of pain, freedom from any evil that ever
laid hold upon us, but it is given us on the intercession of Jesus Christ.
Believers are unacquainted with their own condition, if they look
upon their mercies as dispensed in a way of common providence.
And this may, indeed, be a cause' why we esteem them no more, are
no more thankful for them, nor fruitful in the enjoyment of them : —
we see not how, by what means, nor on what account, they are dis
pensed to us. The generation of the people of God in the world are
at this day alive, undevoured, merely on the account of the interces
sion of the Lord Jesus. His compassionateness hath been the fountain
of their deliverances. Hence oftentimes he rebukes their sufferings
and afflictions, that they shall not act to the utmost upon them when
they are under them. He is with them when they pass through fire
and water, Isa. xliii. 2, 3.
(2.) In that he doth and will, in the winding up of the matter, so
sorely revenge ihe qudrrel of thefr sufferings upon thefr enemies. He
avenges his elect that cry unto him; yea, he doth it speedily. The
controversy of Zion leads on the day of his vengeance, Isa. xxxiv. 8.
He looks upon them sometimes in distress, and considers what is the
state of the world in reference to them. Zech. i 11, "We have walked
to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still,
1 " T»i orxh/txrav Christi duo sunt genera : trponpx/ixrx, quae passus est in corpore
suo, et viirip-ri/txrx, quae in Sanctis." — Zanc. in. loc.
8 Heb. vii. 25.
VOL. II. 10

1 46 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
and is at rest," say his messengers to him, whom he sent to consider
the world and its condition during the affliction of his people. This
commonly is the condition of the world in such a season, " They aie
at rest and quiet, their hearts are abundantly satiated -1 they drink
wine in bowls, and send gifts to one another." Then Christ looks to
see who will come in for their succour, Isa. lix. 16, 17; and finding
none engaging himself for their relief, by the destruction of their
adversaries, himself undertakes it. Now, this vengeance he accom
plishes two ways : —
[1.] Temporally, upon persons, kingdoms, nations, and countries,
(a type whereof you have, Isa. lxui. 1-6) ; as he did it upon the old
Roman world, Rev. vi. 15, 16. And this also he doth two ways: —
1st. By calling out here and there an eminent opposer, and
making him an example to all the world. So he dealt with Pharaoh:
" For this cause have I raised thee up," Exod. ix. 16. So he doth
to this day; he lays his hand upon eminent adversaries, — fiUs one
with fury, another with folly, blasts a third, and makes another -wither,
or destroys them utterly and terribly. As a provoked Uon, he lies
not down without his prey.
2dly. In general, in the vials of his wrath which he wiU in these
latter days "pour out upon the antichristian world, and all that par
take with them in thefr thoughts of vengeance and persecution. He
wiU miserably destroy them, and make such work with them in the
issue, that whosoever hears, both his ears shall tingle.
[2.] In eternal vengeance will he plead with the adversaries of
his beloved, Matt. xxv. 41-46; 2 Thess. L 6; Jude 15. It is hence
evident that Christ abeunds in pity and ccmpassion towards his be
loved. Instances might be multipUed, but these things are obvious,
and occur to the thoughts of aU.
In answer to this, I place in the saints chastity unto Christ, in
eveiy state and condition. That this might be the state of the'
church of Corinth, the apostle made it his endeavour. 2 Cor. xi. 2, 3,
" I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a
chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent
beguUed Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ." And so is it said of the fol
lowers of the Lamb, on mount Sion, Rev. xiv. 4, " These are they
which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins." What
defilement that was they were free from, shaU be afterward declared.
Now, there are three things wherein this chastity consists : —
1. The not taking any thing into their affections and esteem for
thpse ends and purposes for which they have received Jesus Christ.
Here the Galatians failed in their conjugal affection to Christ; they
1 Amos vi. 3-6; Rev. xi. 10.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 147
preserved not themselves chaste to him. They had received Christ
for life, and justification, and him only; but being after a while over
come with1 charms, or bewitched, they took into the same place with
him the righteousness of the law. How Paul deals with them here
upon is known. How sorely, how pathetically doth he admonish them,
how severely reprove them, how clearly convince them of their mad
ness and folly ! This, then, is the first chaste affection believers bear
in their heart to Christ : — having received him for their righteousness
and salvation before God, for the fountain, spring, and wellhead of
aU their supplies, they wiU not now receive any other thing into his
room and in his stead. As to instance, in one particular: — We re
ceive him for our2 acceptance with God. AU that here can stand in
competition with him for our affections, must be our own endeavours
for a 3 righteousness to commend us to God. Now, this must be either
before we receive him, or after. [As] for all duties and endeavours,
of what sort soever, for the pleasing of God before our receiving of
Christ, you know what was the apostle's frame, Phil. iii. 8-10. All
endeavours, all advantages, all privileges, he rejects with indignation,
as loss, — with abomination, as dung; and winds up all his aims and
desires in Christ alone and his righteousness, for those ends and pur
poses. But the works we do after we have received Christ are of an
other consideration. Indeed, they are acceptable to God ; it pleaseth
him that we should walk in them. But as to that end for which we
receive Christ, [they are] of no other account than the former, Eph.
ii. 8-10. Even the works we do after believing, — those which we are
created unto in Christ Jesus, those that God hath ordained that be
lievers "should walk in them," — as to justification and acceptance with
God, (here called salvation), are excluded. It wUl one day appear
that Christ abhors the j anglings of men about the place of thefr own
works and obedience, in the business of thefr acceptation with God;
nor wiU the saints find any peace in adulterous thoughts of that
kind. The chastity we owe unto him requires another frame. The
necessity, usefulness, and excellency of gospel obedience shall be after
ward declared. It is marvellous to see how hard it is to keep some
professors to any faithfulness with Christ in this thing ; — how many
disputes have been managed,4 how many distinctions invented, how
many shifts and evasions studied, to keep up something, in some
place or other, to some purpose or other, that they may dally withal.
Those that love him indeed are otherwise minded.
Herein, then, of all things, do the saints endeavour to keep their
affections chaste and loyal to Jesus Christ. He is made unto them
of God " righteousness;" and they will own nothing else to that pur-
1 Gal. iii 1. s 1 Cor. i. 30. ' Rom. x. 4. _
4 " Peifice hoc precibus, pretio, ut hasream in parte aliqua tandem," etc.

] 48 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST;
pose: yea, sometimes they know not whether they have any interest
in him or no, — he absents and withdraws himself; they still continue
solitary, in a state of widowhood, refusing to be comforted, though
many things offer themselves to that purpose, because he is not.
When Christ is at any time absent from the soul, when it cannot see
that it hatli any interest in him, many lovers offer themselves to it,
many woo its affections, to get it to rest on this or that thing for re
lief and succour; but though it go mourning never so long, it will
have nothing but Christ to lean upon. Whenever the soul is in the
wilderness, in the saddest condition, there it wUl stay until Christ
come for to take it up, untU it can come forth leaning upon him,
Cant. viii. 5. The many instances of this that the book of Canticles
affords us, we have in part spoken of before.
This doth he who hath communion with Christ : — he watcheth diU
gently over his own heart, that nothing creep into its affections, to give
it any peace or estabUshment before God, but Christ only. When
ever that question is to be answered, " Wherewith shall I come before
the. Lord, and appear before the high God?" he doth not gather up,
" This or that I will do;" or, " Here and there I wUl watch, and amend
my ways;" but instantly he cries, " In the Lord Jesus have I Right
eousness; all my desire is, to be found in him, not having on my own
righteousness." 2. In cherishing that Spirit, that holy Comforter, which Christ
sends to us, to abide with us in his room and stead. He tells us that
he sends him to that purpose, John xvi. 7. He gives hun to us, " vi
cariam navare operam," saith Tertullian, — to abide with us for ever,
for all those ends and purposes which he hath to fulfil toward us and
upon us ; he gives him to dweU in us, to keep us, and preserve us
blameless for himself. His name is in him, and with him : and it is
upon this account that whatever is done to any of Christ's is done to
him, because it is done to them in whom he is and dweUs by his
Spirit. Now, herein do the saints preserve their conjugal affections
entire to Christ, that they labour by all means not to grieve his Holy
Spirit, which he hath sent hi his stead to abide with them. This
the apostle puts them in mind of, Eph. iv. 30, " Grieve not the Holy
Spirit." There be two main ends for which Christ sends his Spirit to be
lievers : — (1.) For thefr sanctification ; (2.) For thefr consolation :
to which two all the particular acts of purging, teaching, anointing,
and the rest that are ascribed to him, may be referred. So there be
two ways whereby we may grieve him: — [1]. In respect of sanctifi
cation; [2.] In respect of consolation: —
(1.) In respect of sanctification. He is the Spfrit of holiness, — holy
1 Isa. xiv. 24; PhU. iii. 9; Hab. ii. 1-4.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. Ii9
in himself, and the author of holiness in us: he works it in us, Tit.
iii. 5, and he persuades us to it, by those motions of his which are
not to be1 quenched. Now, this, in the first place, grieves the Spfrit,
— when he is carrying on in us and for us a work so infinitely for our
advantage, and without which we cannot see God, that we should run
cross to him, in ways of unholiness, pollution, and defilement. So the
connection of the words in the place before mentioned manifests, Eph.
iv. 28-31 ; and thence doth Paul bottom his powerful and most effec
tual persuasion unto holiness, even from the abode and indweUing of
this Holy Spirit with us, 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. Indeed, what can grieve
a loving and tender friend more than to oppose him and slight him
when he is most intent about our good, — and that a good of the
greatest consequence to us? In this, then, believers make it their
business to keep their hearts loyal and their affections chaste to Jesus
Christ. They labour instantly not to grieve the Holy Spirit by loose
and foolish, by careless and negligent walking, which he hath sent to
dwell and abide with them. Therefore shall no anger, wrath, malice,
envy, dwell in their hearts ; because they are contrary to the holy,
meek Spirit of Christy which he hath given to dwell with them.
They attend to his motions, make use of his assistance, improve his
gifts, and nothing lies more upon thefr spirits, than that they may
walk worthy of the presence of this holy substitute of the Lord Jesus
Christ (2.) As to consolation. This is the second great end for which
Christ gives and sends his Spirit to us; who from thence, by the way
of eminency, is called " The Comforter." To this end he seals us,
anoints us, establishes us, and gives us peace and joy. Of all which
I shaU afterward speak at large. Now, there be two ways whereby
he may be grieved as to this end of his mission, and our chastity
to Jesus Christ thereby violated : —
[1.] By placing our comforts and joys in other things, and not
being filled with joy in the Holy Ghost. When we make creatures
or creature comforts — any thing whatever but what we receive by the
Spirit of Christ — to be our joy and our delight, we are false with Christ.
So was it with Demas,3 who loved the present world; When the ways
of the Spirit of God are grievous and burdensome to us, — when we
say, " When will the Sabbath be past, that we may exact all our
labours?" — when our dehght and refreshment lies in earthly things,
—we are unsuitable to Christ. May not his Spirit say, " Why do I
still abide with these poor souls? I provide them joys unspeakable
and glorious; but they refuse them, for perishing things. I provide
them spiritual, eternal, abiding consolations, and it is all rejected for
a thing of nought." This Christ cannot bear; wherefore, believers are
1 1 Thess. v. 19. 2 2 Tim. iv. 10.

150 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
exceeding careful in this, not to place their joy and consolation in
any thing but what is administered by the Spirit. Their daily work
is, to get their hearts crucified to the world and the things of it, and
the world to their hearts ; that they may not have Uving affections to
dying things : they would fain look on the world as a crucified, dead
thing, that hath neither form nor beauty; and if at any times they
have been entangled with creatures and inferior contentment, and
have lost their better joys, they cry out to Christ, " 0 restore to us
the joys of thy Spirit ! "
[2.] He is grieved when, through darkness and unbelief, we wiU
not, do not, receive those consolations which he tenders to us, and
which he is abundantly wUling that we should receive. But of this
I shall have occasion to speak afterward, in handling our communion
with the Holy Ghost.
3. In [keeping] his institutions, or matter and manner of his worship.
Christ marrying his church to himself, taking it to that relation, still
expresseth the main of their chaste and choice affections to him to lie
in their keeping his institutions and his worship according to his
appointment. The breach of this he caUs "adultery" everywhere,
and " whoredom." He is a "jealous God ;" and he gives himself that
title only in respect of his institutions. And the whole apostasy of
the Christian church unto false worship is called x" fornication;" and
the church that leads the others to false worship, the "mother of
harlots." On this account, those believers who reaUy attend to com
munion with Jesus Christ, do labour to keep thefr hearts chaste
to him in his ordinances, institutions, and worship; and that two
ways : —
(1.) They will receive nothing, practise nothing, own nothing, in
his worship, but what is of his appointment. They know that from
the foundation of the world he never did allow, nor ever wUl, that
in any thing the will of the creatures should be the measure of his
honour or the principle of his worship, either as to matter or manner.
It was a witty and true sense that one gave of the second command
ment: "Non imago, non simulachrum prohibetur; sed non facies
tibi;" — it is a making to ourselves, an inventing, a finding out, ways
of worship, or means of honouring God, not by him appointed, that
is so severely forbidden. Believers know what entertainment all wUl-
worship finds with God : " Who hath requfred these things at your
hand?" and, "In vain do you worship me, teaching for doctrines
the traditions of men," — is the best it meets with. I shall take leave
to say what is upon my heart, and what (the Lord assisting) I shaU
willingly endeavour to make good against all the world, — namely,
that that principle, that the church hath power to institute and ap-
1 Rev. xvii. 5.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 151
point any thing or ceremony belonging to the worship of God, either
as to matter or to manner, beyond the orderly observance of such
circumstances as necessarily attend such ordinances as Christ himself
hath instituted, lies at the bottom of all the horrible superstition and
idolatry, of all the confusion, blood, persecution, and wars, that have
for so long a. season spread themselves over the face of the Christian
world ; and that it is the design of a great part of the Revelation to
make a discovery of this truth. And I doubt not but that the great
controversy which God hath had with this nation for so many years,
and which he hath pursued with so much anger and indignation, was
upon this account : — that, contrary to that glorious light of the gospel
, which shone among us, the wills and fancies of men, under the name
of order, decency, and the authority of the church (a chimera that
none knew what it was, nor wherein the power of it did consist, nor
in whom reside), were imposed on men in the ways and worship of
God. Neither was aU that pretence of gloiy, beauty, comeliness, and
conformity, that then was pleaded, any thing more or less than what
God doth so describe in the church of Israel, Ezek. xvi. 25, and for
wards. Hence was the Spirit of God in prayer derided ; hence was
the powerful preaching of the gospel despised; hence was the Sab
bath decried; hence was holiness stigmatized and persecuted; — to
what end? That Jesus Christ might be deposed from the sole privi
lege and power of law-making in his church; that the true husband
might be thrust aside, and adulterers of his spouse embraced; that
taskmasters might be appointed in and over his house, which he never
gave to his church, Eph. iv. 11; that a ceremonious, pompous, out
ward show worship, drawn from Pagan, Judaical, and Antichristian
observations, might be introduced ; — of all which there is not one word,
tittle, or iota, in the whole book of God. This, then, they who hold
communion with Christ "are careful of: — they wUl admit of nothing,
practise nothing, in the worship of God, private or pubUc, but what
they have his warrant for; unless it comes in his name, with "Thus
saith the Lord Jesus," they wUl not hear an angel from heaven."
They know the apostles themselves were to teach the saints only what
Christ commanded them, Matt, xxvui. 20. You know how many in
this very nation, in the days not long since past, yea, how many
thousands, left their native soU, and went into a vast and howling
wilderness in the utmost parts of the world, to keep thefr souls unde
filed and chaste to their dear Lord Jesus, as to this of his worship and -
institutions. (2.) They readily embrace, receive, and practise every thing that
the Lord Christ hath appointed. They inquire diligently into his
mind and will, that they may know it. They go to him for direc
tions, and beg of him to lead them in the way they have not known.

152 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
The 119th Psalm n|ay be a pattern for this. How doth the good,
holy soul breathe after instruction in the ways and ordinances, the
statutes and judgments, of God ! This, I say, they are tender in :
whatever is of Christ, they wUlingly submit unto, accept of, and give
up themselves to the constant practice thereof; whatever comes on any
other account they refuse.
IV. Christ manifests and evidences his love to his saints in a way
of bounty, — in that rich, plentiful provision he makes- for them. It
hath " pleased the Father that in him should aU fulness dwell," Col.
i. 19 ; and that for this end, that " of his fulness we might all receive,
and grace for grace," John i. 16.' I shall not insist upon the particu
lars of that provision which Christ makes for his saints, with all those
influences of the Spirit of life and grace that daily they receive from
him, — that bread that he gives them to the fuU, the refreshment they
have from him; I shall only observe this, that the Scripture affirms
him to do all things for them in an abundant manner, or to do it
aichly, in a way of bounty. Whatever he gives us, — his grace to assist
us, his presence to comfort us, — he doth it abundantly. You have the
general' assertion of it, Rom. v. 20, " Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound." If grace abound much more in comparison
of sin, it is abundant grace indeed; as will easUy be granted by any
that shall consider how sin hath abounded, and doth, in every soul.
Hence he is said to be able, and we are bid to expect that he should
do for us " exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,"
Eph. iii. 20. Is it pardoning mercy we receive of him? why, he doth
" abundantly pardon," Isa. Iv. 7 ; he wUl multiply or add to pardon, —
he will add pardon to-pardon, that grace and mercy shaU abound above
aU our sins and iniquities. Is it the Spirit he gives us? he sheds him
upon us richly or " abundantly," Tit. Ui. 6 ; not only bidding us drink
of the water of life freely, but also bestowing him in such a plentiful
measure, that rivers of water shall flow from them that receive him,
John vii. 38, 39, — that they shall never thirst any more who have
drank of him. Is it grace that we receive of him? he gives that also
in a way of bounty ; we receive "abundance of grace," Rom. v. 17; he
" abounds toward us in all wisdom and prudence," Eph. i 8. Hence
is that invitation, Cant. v. 1. If in any things, then, we are straitened,
it is in ourselves; Christ deals bountifuUy with us. Indeed, the great
sin of believers is, that they make not use of Christ's bounty as they
ought to do; that we do not every day take of him mercy in abund
ance. The oil never ceaseth till the vessels cease; supplies from Christ
fail not but only when our faith faUs in receiving them.
Then our return to Christ is in a way of duty. Unto this two
things are required: —
1. That we follow after and practise hoUness in the power of it,

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 153
as it is obedience unto Jesus Christ. Under this formality, as obedi
ence to him, all gospel obedience is called, " whatsoever Christ com
mands us," Matt, xxviii. 20; and saith he, John xv. 14, " Ye are my
friends, if- ye do whatsoever I command you;" and it is required of
us that we live to him who died for us, 2 Cor. v. 15, — live to him in
all holy obedience, — Uve to him as our Lord and King. Not that I
suppose there are peculiar precepts and a peculiar law of Jesus Christ,
in the observance whereof we are justified, as the Socinians fancy;
for surely the gospel requires of us no more, but " to love the Lord
our God with all our hearts, and aU our souls," — which the law also
required ; — but that, the Lord Jesus having brought us into a condition
of acceptance with God, wherein our obedience is well-pleasing to
him, and we being to honour him as we honour the Father, that wa
have a respect and pecuUar regard to him in all our obedience. So
Tit. ii. 14, he hath purchased us unto himself. And thus beUevers do
in thefr obedience; they eye Jesus Christ, —
(1.) As the author of their faith and obedience, for whose sake it
is " given to them to believe," PhU. i 29 ; and who by his Spirit works
that obedience in them. So the apostle, Heb. xii. 1, 2 ; in the course
of our obedience we still look to Jesus, " the author of our faith."
Faith is here both the grace of faith, and the fruit of it in obedience.
(2.) As him in, for, and by whom we have acceptance with God in
our obedience. They know all thefr duties are weak, imperfect, not
able to abide the presence of God ; and therefore they look to Christ
as him who bears the iniquity of their holy things, who adds incense
to thefr prayers, gathers out aU the weeds of thefr duties, and makes
them acceptable to God.
(3.) As one that hath renewed the commands of God unto them,
with mighty obligations unto obedience. So the apostle, 2 Cor. v.
14, 15, " The love of Christ constraineth us;" of which afterward.
(4.) They consider him as God, equal with his Father, to whom
all honour and obedience is due. So Rev. v. 13. But these things I
have, not long since, opened1 in another treatise, dealing about the
worship of Christ as mediator. This, then, the saints do in all their
obedience ; they have a special regard to thefr dear Lord Jesus. He
is, on aU these accounts, and innumerable others, continually in thefr
thoughts. His love to them, his Ufe for them, his death for them, —
aU his kindness and mercy constrains them to Uve to him.
2. By labouring to abound in fruits of holiness. As he deals with
us in a way of bounty, and deals eut untp us abundantly, so he re
quires that we. abound in all grateful, obediential returns to him. So
we are exhorted to " be always abounding in the work of the Lord,"
1 Cor. xv. 58. This is that I intend: — the saints are not satisfied with
1 Vindicise Evangel., chap. xiii. vol. xii.

154 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
that measure that at any time they have attained, but are still press
ing, that they may be more dutiful, more fruitful to Christ.
And this is a little glimpse of some of that communion which we
enjoy with Christ. It is but a Uttle, from him who hath the least
experience of it of all the saints of God; who yet hath found that in
it which is better than ten thousand worlds; who desires to spend
the residue of the few and evU days of his pilgrimage in pursuit
hereof, — in the contemplation of the excellencies, desirableness, love,
and grace of our dear Lord Jesus, and in making returns of obedience
according to his will : to whose soul, in the midst of the perplexities
of this -wretched world, and cursed rebeUions of his own heart, this is
the great relief, that " He that shaU come will come, and wUl not
tarry." "The Spirit and the bride say, Come; and let him that
readeth say, Come. Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

CHAPTER VI.
Of communion with Christ in purchased grace — Purchased grace considered in
respect of its rise and fountain — The first rise of it, in the obedience of Christ
— Obedience properly ascribed to Christ — Two ways considered : what it was,
and wherein it did consist — Of his obedience to the law in general — Of the
law of the Mediator — His habitual righteousness, how necessary ; as also his
obedience to the law of the Mediator — Of his actual obedience or active right
eousness — All Christ's obedience performed as he was Mediator — His active
obedience for us — This proved at large, Gal. iv. 4, 5; Rom. v. 19; Phil.
iii. 10; Zech. iii. 3-5 — One objection removed — Considerations of Christ's
active righteousness closed — Of the death of Christ, and its influence into our
acceptation with God — A price; redemption, what it is — A sacrifice; atone
ment made thereby — A punishment; satisfaction thereby — The intercession of
Christ; with its influence into our acceptation with God.
Our process1 is now to communion with Christ in 'purchased
grace, as it was before proposed : " That we may know him, and the
power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, and be
made conformable to his death," PhU. iii 10.
By purchased grace, I understand all that righteousness and grace
which Christ hath procured, or wrought out for us, or doth by any
means make us partakers of, or bestows on us for our benefit, by any
thing that he hath done or suffered, or by any thing he continueth
to do as mediator: — First, What this purchased grace is, and
wherein it doth consist; Secondly, How we hold communion with
Christ therein; are the things that now come under consideration.
1 [See beginning of chapter ii., for the leading divisions.]

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 155
The First may be considered two ways: — 1. In respect of the rise
and fountain of it; 2. Of its nature, or wherein it consisteth.
1. It hath a threefold rise, spring, or causality in Christ : — (1.) The
obedience of his life. (2.) The suffering of his death. (3.) His con
tinued intercession. All the actions of Christ as mediator, leading
to the communication of grace unto us, may be either referred to
these heads, or to some things that are subservient to them or con
sequents of them.
2. For the nature of this grace wherein we have communion with
Christ, flowing from these heads and fountains,' it may be referred
to these three: — (1.) Grace of justification, or acceptation with
God; which makes a relative change in us, as to state and condition.
(2.) Grace of sanctification, or holiness before God; which makes a
real change in us, as to principle and operation. (3.) Grace oi privi
lege; which is mixed, as we shah show, if I go forth to the handUng
thereof. Now, that we have communion with Christ in this purchased grace,
is evident on this single consideration, — that there is almost nothing
that Christ hath done, which is a spring of that grace whereof we
speak, but we are said to do it with him. We are "crucified" with him,
Gal ii. 20; we are "dead" with him, 2 Tim. iL 11; Col. iii 3; and
"buried" with him, Rom. vi. 4 ; Col. u. 12 ; we are " quickened together
with him," Col. u. 13 ; " risen" with him, Col. iu. 1. " He hath quick
ened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together, and
made us sit together in heavenly places," Eph. U. 5, 6. In the act
ings of Christ, there is, by virtue of the compact between him as
mediator, and the Father, such an assured foundation laid of the
communication of the fruits of those actings unto those in whose
stead he performed them, that they are said, in the participation of
those fruits, to have done the same things with him. The Ufe and
power of which truth we may have occasion hereafter to inquire
into:— (1.) The first fountain and spring of this grace, wherein we have
our communion with Christ, is first to be considered; and that is
the obedience of his life: concerning which it must be declared, —
[1.] What it is that is intended thereby, and wherein it consisteth.
[2.] What influence it hath into the grace whereof we speak.
To the handUng of this I shall only premise this observation, —
namely, that in the order of procurement, the Ufe 'of Christ (as was
necessary) precedeth his death ; and therefore we shaU handle it" in
the first place : but in the order of application, the benefits of his
death are bestowed on us antecedently, in the nature of the things
themselves, unto those of his Ufe; as will appear, and that necessarily,
from the state and condition wherein we are.

156 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
[1.] By the obedience of the life of Christ, I intend the universal
conformity of the Lord Jesus Christ, as he was or is, in his being
mediator, to the whole wUl of God ; and his complete actual fulfilling
of the whole of every law of God, or doing of all that God in them
required. He might have been perfectly holy by obedience to the
law of creation, the moral law, as the angels were; neither could any
more, as a man walking with God, be required of him : but he sub
mitted himself also to every law or ordinance that was introduced
upon the occasion of sin, which, en his own account, he could not be
subject to, it becoming him to " fulfil 1a\l righteousness," Matt. iu. 15,
as he spake in reference to a newly-instituted ceremony.
That obedience is properly ascribed unto Jesus Christ as mediator,
the Scripture is witness, both as to name and thing. Heb. v. 8,
" Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience," etc. ; yea, he was
obedient in his sufferings, and it was that which gave life to his
death, Phil. ii. 8. He was obedient to death : for therein " he did
make his soul an offering for sin," Isa. lui. 10; or, "his soul made an
offering for sin," as it is interpreted, verse 12, " he poured out his
soul to death," or, " his soul poured out itself unto death." And he
not only sanctified himself to be an offering, John xvU 19, but he also
" offered up himself," Heb. ix. 14, an " offering of a sweet savour to
God," Eph. v. 2. Hence, as to the whole of his work, he is caUed
the Father's "servant," Isa. xiii. 1, and verse 19: and he professes
of himself that he " came into the world to do the wUl of God, the
wUl of him that sent him;" for which he manifests " his great readi
ness," Heb. x. 7 ; — all which evince his obedience. But I suppose
I need not insist on the proof of this, that Christ, in the work of me
diation, and as mediator, was obedient, and did what he did willingly
and cheerfully, in obedience to God.
Now, this obedience of Christ may be considered two ways: —
1st. As to the habitual root and fountain of it. 2dly. As to the
actual parts or duties of it: —
1st. The habitual righteousness of Christ as mediator in his hu
man nature, was the absolute, complete, exact conformity of the soul
of Christ to the will, mind, or law of God ; or his perfect habitually-
inherent righteousness. This he had necessarily from the grace of
union ; from whence it is that that which was born of the virgin was
a " holy thing," Luke i. 35. It was, I say, necessary consequentiaUy,
1 " Vox hsec "iixxiotrvtn hoc quidem loco latissime sumitur, ita ut significet non
modo ro to/ti/tot, sed et quicquid ullam sequi atque honesti habet rationem; nam
lex Mosis de hoc baptismo nihil prsescripserat." — Grot.
" Per hxxioo-vtn Christus hic non designat justitiam legalem, sed, ut ita loqui
liceat, personalem; « -rpi-rov personas, et to xxltlxov muneri."  Walaa.
'ESxvrrio-h Js xxi ivwrivirtt, o'vx xvrog xKoppv^iug n ttlirriixg XPtixt ixut, ri xxi&po-loig,
h rn tfvo-ti xx$xpog xx) olyiog. — Clem.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 157
that it should be so ; though the effecting of it were by the free ope
rations of the Spirit, Luke ii. 52. He had an all-fulness of grace
on all accounts. This the apostle describes, Heb. vii. 26, " Such an
high priest became us, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin
ners." Every way separate and distant from sin and sinners he was
to be; whence he is called "The Lamb of God, without spot or
blemish," 1 Pet. i. 19. This , habitual holiness of Christ was incon
ceivably above that of the angels. He who '^chargeth his angels
with folly," Job iv. 18; " who putteth no trust in his saints; and in
whose sight the heavens" (or their inhabitants) " are not clean," chap.
xv. 15 ; always embraceth him in his bosom, and is always well pleased
with him, Matt. Ui. 1 7. And the reason of this is, because every other
creature, though never so holy, hath the Spirit of God by measure;
but he was not given to Christ "by measure," John iii. 34; and that
because it pleased him that in him " should all fulness dwell," Col.
i. 19. This habitual grace of Christ, though not absolutely infinite,
yet, in respect of any other creature, it is as the water of the sea to
the water of a pond or pool. All other creatures are depressed from
perfection by this, — that they subsist in a created,' dependent being;
and so have the fountain of what is communicated to them without
them. But the human nature of Christ subsists in the person of the
, Son of God ; and so hath the bottom and fountain of its holiness in
the strictest unity with itself.
2dly. The actual obedience of Christ, as was said, was his wUling,
cheerful, obediential performance of every thing, duty, or command,
that God, by virtue of any law whereto we were subject and ob
noxious, did require; and [his obedience], moreover, to the pecuUar
law of the mediator. Hereof, then, are two parts : —
(1st.) That whatever was required of us by virtue of any law, —
that he did and fulfilled. Whatever was requfred of us by the law of
nature, in our state of innocency; whatever kind of duty was added by
morally positive or ceremonial institutions; whatever is required of
us in way of obedience to righteous judicial laws, — he did it all. Hence
he is said to be "made under the law," Gal. iv. 4; subject or ob
noxious to it, to all the precepts or commands of it. So, Matt. Ui 15,
he said it became him to 2" fulfil all righteousness," — ¦ristfan bixaio-
ebiiv, — all manner of righteousness whatever; that is, everything that
God required, as is evident from the appUcation of that general
axiom to the baptism of John. I shall not need, for this, to go to
1 " Sensus est de angelis, qui si cum Deo conferantur, aut si eos secum Deus
conferat, non habens rationem eorum quae in illis posuit, et dotium ac donorum
quse in- illos contulit, et quibus eos exornavit et illustravit, inveniat eos stolidos.
Sane quicquid habent angeli, a Deo habent." — Mercer, in loc.
2 " Fuit legis servituti subjectus, ut earn implendo nos ab ea redimeret, et ab
ejus servitute." — Bez.

158 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
particular instances, in the duties of the law of nature, — to God and
his parents ; of morally positive [duties], in the Sabbath, and other acts
of worship ; of the ceremonial law, in circumcision, and observation of
all the rites of the Judaical church; of the judicial, in paying tribute
to governors; — it wUl suffice, I presume, that on the one hand he " did
no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth;" and on the other, that
he " fulfilled all righteousness : " and thereupon the Father was always
well pleased with him. This was that which he owned of himself,
— that he came to do the will of God ; and_ he did it.
(2dly.) There was a peculiar law of the mediator, which respected
himself merely, and contained all those acts and duties of his which
are not for pur imitation. So that obedience which he showed in
dying was peculiarly to this ^aw, John x. 18, "I have power to
lay down my life : this commandment have I received of my Father."
As mediator, he received this peculiar command of his Father, that
he should lay down his life, and take it again ; and he was obedient
thereunto. Hence we say, he who is mediator did some things
merely as a man, subject to the law of God in general; so he prayed
for his persecutors, — those that put him to death, Luke xxiu. 34; —
some things as mediator; so he prayed for his elect only, John xvu. 9.
There were not worse in the world, really and evidently, than many
of them, that crucified him ; yet, as a man, subject to the law, he for- .
gave them, and prayed for them. When he prayed as mediator, his
Father always heard him and answered him, John xi. 41 ; and in the
other prayers he was accepted as one exactly performing his duty.
This, then, is the obedience of Christ; which was the first thing
proposed to be considered. The next is, —
[2.] That it hath an influence into the grace of which we speak,
wherein we hold communion with him, — namely, our free accepta
tion with God; what that influence is, must also follow hi its order.
1st For his habitual righteousness, I shall only propose it under
these two considerations : —
(1st.) That upon this supposition, that it was needful that we should
have a mediator that vvas God and man in one person, as it could
not otherwise be, so it must needs be that he must be holy. For;
although there be but one primary necessary effect of the hypostatical
union (which is the subsistence of the human nature in the person of
the Son of God), yet that he that was so united to him should be a
" holy thing," completely holy, was necessary also ; — of which before.
(2dly.) That the relation which this righteousness of Christ hath
to the grace we receive from him is only this, — that thereby he was
1 " Proprium objectum obedientiae est praeceptum, taciturn vel expressum, id
est, voluntas superioris quocunque modo innotescat." — Thom. 2, 2, q. 2, 5. Deut.
xviii. 18; Acts iii. 22; John xii. 49, xiv. 31, vi. 38, v. 30.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 159
txat6s, — fit to do aU that he had to do for us. This is the intendment
of the apostle, Heb. vii. 26. Such a one " became us;" it was needful
he should be such a one, that he might do what he had to do. And
the reasons hereof are two : —
[1st.] Had he not been completely furnished with habitual grace,
he could never have actuaUy fulfilled the righteousness which was
required at his hands. It was therein that he was able to do all that
he did. So himself lays down the presence of the Spirit with him as
the bottom and foundation of his going forth to his work, Isa. lxi. I.
[2^2/.] He could not have been a complete and perfect sacrifice,
nor have answered aU the types and figures of him, that were1 com
plete and without blemish. But now, Christ having this habitual
righteousness, if he had never yielded any continued .obedience to the
law actively, but had suffered as soon after his incarnation as Adam
sinned after his creation, he had been a fit sacrifice and offering; and
therefore, doubtless, his following obedience hath another use besides
to fit him for an oblation, for which he was most fit without it.
2dly. For Christ's obedience to the law of mediation, wherein it
is not coincident with his passive obedience, as they speak (for I know
that expression is improper) ; it was that which was requisite for the
discharging of his office, and is not imputed unto us, as though we
had done it, though the aironXiepara and fruits of it are; but is of
the nature of his intercession, whereby he provides the good things
we stand in need of, at least subserviently to his oblation and inter
cession; — of which more. afterward.
3dly. About his actual fulfilling oi the law, or doing aU things
that of us are required, there is some doubt and question; and about
it there are three several epinions: —
(] st) That this active obedience oi Christ hath no farther influence
into our justification and acceptation with God, but as it was pre
paratory to his blood-shedding and oblation ; which is the sole cause
of our justification, the whole righteousness which is imputed to us
arising from thence.
(2dly.) That it may be considered two ways: — [1st] As it is purely
obedience; and so it hath no other state but that before mentioned.
[2d7i/.] As it was accomplished with suffering, and joined with it, as
it was part of his humiliation, so it is imputed to us, or is part of
that upon the account whereof we are justified.
1 " Prsecipitur, Lev. xxii. 20, ne offeratur pecus in quo sit Bite, mum, id est
corporis vitium : a Bis eflicitur /tu/tog ' culpa:' unde Christus dicitur x/tu/tog, ' incul-
patus:' opponitur autem Wa ro B'SB, hoc est 'integrum.' Ibid., ver. 19, et sic
Exod. xii. 5, prsecipitur de agno paschali, ut sit Biam, id est 'integer,' omnis sci
licet vitii expers. Idem prsecipitur de agnis jugis sacrificii, Numb, xxviii. 3, qui
bus ipsa nimirum sanctifas Christi tanquam victimse prasfigurata est." — Piscat.,
in 1 Pet. i. 19.

160 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
(3dly.) That this obedience of Christ, being done/or us, is reckoned
graciously of God unto us; and upon the account thereof are we ac
cepted as righteous before him. My intendment is not to handle this
difference in the way of a controversy, but to give such an under
standing of the whole as may speedUy be reduced to the practice of
godliness and consolation ; and this I shall do in the ensuing obser
vations : —
[1st.] That the obedience that Christ yielded to the law in general,
is not only to the peculiar law of the mediator, though he yielded it
as mediator. He was incarnate as mediator, Heb. ii. 14; Gal. iv. 4;
and all he afterward did, it was as our mediator. For that cause
" came he into the world," and did and suffered whatever he did or
suffered in this world. So that of this expression, as mediator, there
is a twofold sense : for it may be taken strictly, as relating solely to
the law of the mediator, and so Christ may be said to do as mediator
only what he did in obedience to that law ; but in the sense now in
sisted on, whatever Christ did as a man subject to any law, he did it
as mediator, because he did it as part of the duty incumbent on him
who undertook so to.be.
[2dly.] That whatever Christ did as mediator, he did it for them
whose mediator he was, or in whose stead and for whose good he
executed the office of a mediator before God. This the Holy Ghost
witnesseth, Rom. viii. 3, 4, " What the law could not do, in that it was
weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the right
eousness of the law might be fulfilled in us;" because that we could
not in that condition of weakness whereinto we are cast by sin, come
to God, and be freed from condemnation by the law, God sent Christ
as a mediator, to do and suffer whatever the law requfred at our
hands for that end and purpose, that we might not be condemned, but
accepted of God. It was all to this end, — "That the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us;" that is, which the law required of
us, consisting in duties of obedience. This Christ performed for ui.
This expression of the apostle, " God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh;" if
you will add to it, that of Gal. iv. 4, that he was so sent forth as that
he was M v6p,ov yevopevog, " made under the law," (that is, obnoxious to
it, to yield aU the obedience that it doth require), comprises the whole
of what Christ did or suffered ; and all this, the Holy Ghost teUs us,
was for us, verse 4.
[3e%.] That the end of this active obedience of Christ cannot be
assigned to be, that he might be fitted for his death and oblation.
For he answered all types, and was eveiy way ixav6g (fit to be made
an offering for sin), by his union and habitual grace. So that if the

>F tDM\UMOif -WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 161
ibedience Christ performed be not reckoned to us, and done upon
our account, there is no just cause to be assigned why he should live
here in the world so long as he did, in perfect obedience to aU the
laws of God. Had he died before, thero had been perfect innocence,
and perfect holiness, by his habitual grace, and infinite virtue and
worth from the dignity of his person; and surely he yielded not that
long course of all manner of obedience, but for some great and special
purpose in reference to our salvation.
[4>thly.] That had not the obedience of Christ been for us (in what
sense we shall see instantly), it might in his life have been required
of him to yield obedience to the law of nature, the alone law which
he could be liable to as a man ; for an innocent man in a covenant of
works, as he was, needs no other law, nor did Go I ever give any
other law to any such person (the law of creation is aU that an in
nocent creature is Uable to, with what symbols of ihat law God is
pleased to add). And yet to this law also was his subjection volun
tary; and that not only consequentially, because he was born upon
his own choice, not by any natural course,"but also because as media
tor, God and man, he was not by the institution of that law obliged
Unto it ; being, as it were, exempted and lifted above that law by the
hypostatical union: yet, when I say his subjection hereunto was
voluntary, I do not intend that it was merely arbitrary and at choice
whether he would yield obedience1 unto it or no, — but on supposition
of his undertaking to be a mediator, it was necessary it should be so, —
but that he voluntarily and wUlingly submitted imto, and so became
really subject to the commands of it. But now, moreover, Jesus
Christ yielded perfect obedience to all those laws which came upon
us by the occasion of sin, as the ceremonial law ; yea, those very in
stitutions that signified the washing away of sin, and repentance from
sin, as the baptism of John, which he had no need of himself. This,
therefore, must needs be for us.
[5thly.] That the obedience of Christ cannot be reckoned amongst
his sufferings, but is clearly distinct from it, as to aU formalities.
Doing is one thing, suffering another; they are in diverse predica
ments, and cannot be coincident.
See, then, briefly what we have obtained by those considerations ; and
then I shall intimate what is the stream issuing from this first spring or
fountain of purchased grace, with what influence it hath thereinto : —
First, By the obedience of- the life of Christ you see what is in
tended, — his willing submission unto, and perfect, complete fulfilling
of, every law of God, that any of the saints of God were obliged unto.
It is true, every act almost of Christ's obedience, from the blood of
1 " Obedientia importat necessitatem respectu ejus quod praecipitur, et volun
tatem respectu impletionis prsecepti." — Thom. 3, q. 47, 2, 2.
VOL. II. V-

162 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. t
his circumcision to the blood of his cross, was attended with sufferino-
— so that his whole life might, in that regard, be caUed a death ; but
yet, looking upon his wUlingness and obedience in it, it is distin
guished from his sufferings peculiarly so caUed, and termed his1 active
righteousness. This is, then, I say, as was showed, that complete,
absolutely perfect accomplishment of the whole law of God by Christ,
our mediator; whereby he not only " did no sin, neither was there
guile found in his mouth," but also most perfectly fulfilled aU right
eousness, as he affirmed it became him to do.
Secondly, That this obedience was performed by Christ not for
himself, but for us, and in our stead. It is true, it must needs be, that
whilst he had his conversation in the flesh he must be most perfectly
and absolutely holy ; but yet the prime intendment of his accomplish
ing of holiness, — which consists in the complete obedience of his whole
life to any law of God, — that was no less for us than his suffering
death. That this is so, the apostle tells us, Gal. iv. 4, 5, " God sent forth
his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law." This Scripture, formerly named, must be a Uttle
farther insisted on. He was both made of a woman, and made under
the law; that is,- obedient to it for us. The end here, both of the
incarnation and obedience of Christ to the law (for that must needs
be understood here by the phrase M vo>ov ympivog, — that is, disposed
of in such a condition as that he must yield subjection and obedience
to the law), was aU to redeem us. In these two expressions, " Made
of a woman, made under the law," the apostle doth not knit his in
carnation and death together, with an exclusion of the obedience of
his life. And he was so made under the law, as those were under
the law whom he was to redeem. Now, we were under the law, not
only as obnoxious to its penalties, but as bound to all ihe duties of it.
That this is our being " under the law," the apostle informs us, Gal
iv. 21, " Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law." It was not
the penalty of the law they desired to be under, but to be under it
in respect of obedience. Take away, then, the end, and you destroy
the means. If Christ were not incarnate nor made under the law
for himself, he did not yield obedience for himself; it was aU for us,
for our good. Let us now look forward, and see what influence this
hath into our acceptation.
Thirdly, Then, I say, this perfect, complete obedience of Christ to
the law is reckoned unto us. As there is a truth in that, " The day
thou eatest thou shalt die," — death is the reward of sin, and so we can
not be freed from death but by the death of Christ, Heb. U. 14, 15; so
also is that no less true, " Do this, and Uve," — that life is not to be ob-
1 " In vita passivam habuit actionem; in morte passionem activam sustinuit; dum
salutem operatur in medio terne." — Bern. Ser. 4.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 163
tained unless all be done that the law requires. That is still true,
" If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments," Matt. xix. 1 7.
They must, then, be kept by us, or our surety. Neither is it of any
value which by some is objected, that if Christ yielded perfect obe
dience to the law for us, then are we no more bound to yield obedi
ence ; for by his undergoing death, the penalty of the law, we are
freed from it. I answer, How did Christ undergo death? Merely
as it was penal. How, then, are we deUvered from death? Merely
as it is penal. Yet we must die still; yea, as the last conflict with
the effects of sin, as a passage to our Father, we must die. Well, then,
Christ yielded perfect obedience to the law; but how did he do it?
Purely as it stood in that conditional [arrangement], " Do this, and
live." He did it in the strength of the grace he had received ; he did
it as a means of life, to procure life by it, as the tenor of a covenant.
Are we, then, freed from this obedience? Yes; but how far? From
doing it in our own strength ; from doing it for this end, that we may
obtain Ufe everlasting. It is vain that some say confidently, that we
must yet work for Ufe ; it is all one as to say we are yet under the
old covenant, " Hoc fac, et vives:" we are not freed from obedience,
as a way of walking with God, but we are, as a way of working to
come to him : of which at large afterward.
Rom. v. 18, 19, "By the righteousness of one the free gift came
upon all men unto justification of life : by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous," saith the Holy Ghost. By his obedience
to the law are we made righteous; it is reckoned to us for righteous
ness. That the passive obedience of Christ is here only intended is
false : —
First, It is opposed to the disobedience of Adam, which was active.
The Sixainjfn.a is opposed vapavTutLari, — the righteousness to the fault.
The fault was an active transgression of the law, and the obedience
opposed to it must be an active accomplishment of it. Besides, obe
dience placed singly, in its own nature, denotes an action or actions
conformable to the law ; and therein came Christ, not to destroy but
to fulfil the law, Matt. v. 17, — that was the design of his coming, and
so for us ; he came to fulfil the law for us, Isa. ix. 6, and [was] born to
us, Luke ii. 11. This also was in that wUl of the Father which, out of
his infinite love, he came to accomplish. Secondly, It cannot clearly
be evinced that there is any such thing, in propriety of speech, as
passive obedience ; obeying is doing, to which passion or suffering
cannot belong: I know it is commonly called so, when men obey until
they suffer; but properly it is not so.
So also, PhU. iU. 9, " And be found in him, not having my own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." The right-

164 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
eoushess we receive is opposed to our own obedience to the law;
opposed to it, not as something in another kind, but as something in
the same kind excluding that from such an end which the other
obtains. Now this is the obedience of Christ to the law, — himself
thereby being " made to us righteousness," 1 Cor. i 30.
Rom. v. 10, the issue of the death of Christ is placed upon recon
ciliation; that is, a slaying of the enmity and restoring us into that
condition of peace and friendship wherein Adam. was before his fall.
But is there no more to be done? Notwithstanding that there was
no wrath due to Adam, yet he was to obey, if he would enjoy eternal
life. Something there is, moreover, to be done in respect of us, if,
after the slaying of the enmity and reconcUiation made, we shall
enjoy life: "Being reconcUed by his death," we are saved by that
perfect obedience which in his life he yielded to the law of God.
There is distinct mention made of reconciliation, through a non-im
putation of sin, as Ps. xxxii. 1, Luke L 77, Rom. ui. 25, 2 Cor. v. 19;
and justification through an imputation of righteousness, Jer. xxui 6,
Rom. iv. 5, 1 Cor. i. 30 ; — although these things are so far from being
separated, that they are reciprocally affirmed of one another : which,
as it doth not evince an identity, so it doth an emment conjunction.
And this last we have by the life of Christ.
This is fully expressed in that typical representation of our justifi
cation before the Lord, Zech. iii. 3-5. Two things are there expressed
to belong to our free acceptation before God : — 1. The taking away
of the guUt of our sin, our filthy robes; this is done by the death of
Christ. Remission of sin is the proper fruit thereof; but there is
more also requfred, even a collation of righteousness, and thereby a
right to life eternal. This is here called " Change of raiment;" so
the Holy Ghost expresses it again, Isa. lxi. 10, where he caUs it
plainly "The garments of salvation," and " The robe of righteousness."
Now this is only made ours by the obedience of Christ, as the other
by his death.
Objection. " But if this be so, then are we as righteous as Christ
himself, being righteous with his righteousness."
A nswer. But first, here is a great difference, — if it were no more
than that this righteousness was inherent in Christ, and properly his
own, it is only reckoned or imputed to us, or freely bestowed on us,
and we are made righteous with that which is not ours. But, secondly,
the truth is, that Christ was not righteous with 'that righteousness for
himself but for us; so that here can be no comparison: only this we
may say, we are righteous with his righteousness which he wrought
for us, and that completely.
And this, now, is the rise of the purchased grace whereof we speak,
— the obedience of Christ; and this is the influence of it into our ac-

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 165
captation with God. Whereas the guilt of sin, and our obnoxiousness
to punishment on that account, is removed and taken away (as shall
farther be declared) by the death of Christ; and whereas, besides the
taking away of sin, we have need of a complete righteousness, upon
the account whereof we may be accepted with God ; this obedience of
Christ, through the free grace of God, is imputed unto us for that
end and purpose.
This is all I shall for the present insist on to this purpose. That
the passive righteousness of Christ only is imputed to us in the non-
imputation of sin, and that on the condition of our faith and new
obedience, so exalting them into the room of the righteousness of
Christ, is a thing which, in communion with the Lord Jesus, I have
as yet no acquaintance withal. What may be said in the way of argu
ment on the one side or other must be elsewhere considered.
(2.) The second spring of our communion with Christ in purchased
grace, is his death and oblation. He lived for us, he died for us ; he
was ours in all he did, in all he suffered.1 I shall be the more brief
in handling of this, because on another design I have "elsewhere at
large treated of aU the concernments of it.
Now, the death of Christ, as it is a spring of that purchased grace
wherein we have communion with him, is in the Scripture proposed
under a threefold consideration: — [1.] Of a price. [2.] Of a sacri
fice. [3.] Of a penalty.
In the first regard, its proper effect is redemption ; in the second,
reconcUiation or atonement ; in the third, satisfaction ; which are the
great ingredients of that purchased grace whereby, in the first place,
we have communion with Christ.
[1.] It is aprice. " We are bought with a price," 1 Cor. vi. 20;
being " not redeemed with sUver and gold, and corruptible things,
but with the precious blood of Christ," 1 Pet. i. 18, 19 : which therein
answers those things in other contracts.3 He came to " give his life
a ransom for many," Matt. xx. 28, — a price of redemption, 1 Tim.
iL 6. The proper use and energy of this expression in the Scripture,
I have elsewhere declared.
Now, the proper effect and issue of the death of Christ as a price
or ransom is, as I said, redemption. Now, redemption is the deliver
ance of any one from bondage or captivity, and the miseries attend
ing that condition, by the intervention or interposition of a price or
1 " Tantane me tennit vivendi, nate, voluptas,
Ut pro me hostili paterer succedere dextrse,
Quem genui ? tuane haac genitor per vulnera servor,
Morte tua vivens 2" — Virgil, _neid. x. 846.
3 Vindic. Evan., cap. xx.-xxii. vol. xii.
8 " Nil quidem emitur nisi interveniente pretio; sed hoc tamen additum magnam
emphasin habet."— Bez.

166 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
ransom, paid by the redeemer to him by whose authority the captive
wras detained: —
1st. In general, it is a deliverance. Hence Christ is called " The
Deliverer," Rom. xi. 26 ; giving himself to " deliver us," Gal. i. 4. He
is " Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come," 1 Thess. L 10.
2dly. It is the deUvery of one from bondage or captivity. We
are, without him, aU prisoners and captives, " bound in prison," Isa.
lxi. 1 ; " sitting in darkness, in the prison house," Isa. xUi. 7, xlix. 9 ;
" prisoners in the pit wherein there is no water," Zech. ix. 11 ; " the
captives of the mighty, and the prey of the terrible," Isa. xlix. 25 ;
under a " captivity that must be led captive," Ps. lxvui. 18 : this puts
us in " bondage," Heb. U. 1 5.
3dly. The person committing thus to prison and into bondage, is
God himself. To him we owe " our debts," Matt. vi. 12, xvUL 23-27;
against him are our offences, Ps. li. 4 ; he is the judge and lawgiver,
James iv. 12. To sin is to rebel against him. He shuts up men
under disobedience, Rom. xi. 32 ; and he shall cast both body and soul
of the impenitent into hell-fire, Matt. x. 28. To his wrath are men
obnoxious, John iU. 36 ; and lie under it by the sentence of the law,
which is their prison.
ithly. The miseries that attend this condition are innumerable.
Bondage to Satan, sin, and the world, comprises the sum of them;
from all which we are delivered by the death of Christ, as a price or
ransom. " God hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and
hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; in whom we
have redemption through his blood," Col. i. 13, 14. And he " redeems
us from all iniquity," Tit. ii. 14; "from our vain conversation," 1 Pet.
i. 18, 19 ; even from the guilt and power of our sin ; purchasing us to
himself " a pecuUar people, zealous of good works," Tit h. 14 : so dying
for the " redemption of transgressions," Heb. ix. 15 ; redeeming us also
from the world, Gal. iv. 5.
5thly. And all this is by the payment of the price mentioned into
the hand of God, by whose supreme authority we are detained cap
tives, under the sentence of the law. The debt is due to the great
householder, Matt, xviii. 23, 24; and the penalty, his curse and wrath:
from which by it we are delivered, Rev. i. 5.
This the Holy Ghost frequently insists on. Rom. Ui 24, 25, " Being
justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus ; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in
his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins:" so
also, 1 Cor. vi. 20; 1 Pet. i. 18; Matt. xx. 28; 1 Tim. ii. 6; Ephi. 7;
Col. i. 13; Gal. iU. 13. And this is the first consideration of the death
of Christ, as it hath an influence into the procurement- of that grace
wherein we hold communion with him.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 167
[2.] It was a sacrifice also. He had a body prepared him, Heb.
x. 5 ; wherein he was to accomplish what by the typical oblations and
burnt-offerings of the law was prefigured. And that body he offered,
Heb. x. 10 ; — that is, his whole human nature ; for "his soul" also was
made "an offering for sin," Isa. liii. 1 0 : on which account he is said to
offer himself, Eph. v. 2; Heb. i. 3, ix. 26. He gave himself a sacri
fice to God of a sweet-smelling savour; and this he did willingly,1
as became him who was to be a sacrifice, — the law of this obedience
being written in his heart, Ps. xl. 8 ; that is, he had a readiness, will
ingness, desire for its performance.
Now, the end of sacrifices, such as his was, bloody and for sin, Rom.
v. 10; Heb. U. 17, was atonement and reccnciUaticn. This is every
where ascribed to them, that they were to make atonement ; that is,
in a way suitable to thefr nature. And this is the tendency of the
death of Christ, as a sacrifice, atonement, and reconciliation with God.
Sin had broken friendship between God and us, Isa. Ixni. 10; whence
his wrath was on us, John iU. 36 ; and we are by nature obnoxious to
it, Eph. ii. 3. This is taken away by the death of Christ, as it was a
sacrifice, Dan. ix. 24. " When we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God by the death of his Son," Rom. v. 10. And thereby do we
" receive the atonement," verse 1 1 ; for " God was in Christ reconcil
ing the world to himself, not imputing to them thefr sins and their
iniquities," 2 Cor. v. 19-21: so also, Eph. U. 12-16, and in sundry
other places. And this is the second consideration of the death of
Christ; which I do but name, having at large insisted on these things
elsewhere. [3.] It was also a punishment, — a punishment in our stead. " He
was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities :
the chastisement of our peace was upon him," Isa liii. 5. God made
all our iniquities (that is, the punishment of them) " to meet upon
him," verse 6. " He bare the sins of many," verse 12 ; " his own self
bare our sins in his own body on the tree," 1 Pet. ii. 24 ; and therein
he " who knew no sin, was made sin for us," 2 Cor. v. 21. What it
is in the Scripture to bear sin, see Deut. xix. 1 5, xx. 1 7 ; Numb. xiv. 33 ;
Ezek. xvuL 20. The nature, kind, matter, and manner of this punish
ment I have, as I said before, elsewhere discussed.
Now, bearing of punishment tends directly to the giving satisfaction
to him who was offended, and on that account inflicted the punish
ment. Justice can desire no more than a proportional punishment,
1 " Observatum est a sacrificantibus, ut si hostia quas ad aras duceretur, fuisset
vehementer reluctata, ostendissetque se invitam altaribus admoveri, amoveretur,
quia invito Deo earn offerri putabant; quae vero stetisset oblata, hanc volenti
numini dari existimabant." — Macrob. Saturnal. lib. iii. " Hoc quoque notandum,
vitulos ad aras humeris hominum allatos non fere litare; sicut nee claudicante,
nee aliena hostia placari deos; neque trahente se ab aris." — Plin. lib. viii. cap. 45.

1 68 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
due to the offence. And this, on his own voluntary taking of our
persons, undertaking to be our mediator, was inflicted on our dea3
Lord Jesus. His substituting himself in our room being allowed of
by the righteous Judge, satisfaction to him doth thence properly ensue.
And this is the threefold consideration of the death of Christ, as it
is a principal spring and fountain of that grace wherein we have com
munion with him ; for, as wUl appear in our process, the single and
most eminent part of purchased grace, is nothing but the natural
exurgency of the threefold effect of the death of Christ, intimated
to flow from it on the account of the threefold consideration insisted
on. This, then, is the second rise of purchased grace, which we are
to eye, if we will hold communion with Christ in it, — his death and
blood-shedding, urider this threefold notion of a price, an offering, and
punishment. But, —
(3.) This is not all: the Lord- Christ goes farther yet; he doth not
leave us so, but follows on the work to the utmost. 1 " He died for
our sins, and rose again for our justification." He rose again to cany
on the complete work of purchased grace, — that is, by his intercession ;
which is the third rise of it. In respect of this, he is said to be " able
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he
ever liveth to make intercession for them," Heb. vU. 25.
Now, the' intercession of Christ, in respect of its influence into pur
chased grace, is considered two ways: —
[1.] As a continuance and carrying on of his oblation, for the
making out of all the fruits and effects thereof unto us. This is called
his " appearing in the presence of God for us," Heb. ix. 24 ; that is,
as the high priest, having offered the great offering for expiation of
sin, carried in the blood thereof into the most holy place, where was
the representation of the presence of God, so to perfect the atonement
he made for himself and the people; so the Lord Christ, having of
fered himself as a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God, being sprinkled
with his own blood, appears in the presence of God, as it were to
mind him of the engagement made to him, for the redemption of sin
ners by his blood, and the making out the good things to them which
were procured thereby. And so this appearance of his hath an in
fluence into purchased grace, inasmuch as thereby he puts in his
claim for it in our behalf.
[2.] He procureth the Holy Spirit for us, effectually to coUate and
bestow all thia purchased grace upon us. That he would do this, and
doth it, for us, we have his engagement, John xiv. 16. This is pur
chased grace, in respect of its fountain and spring; — of which I shall
not speak farther at present, seeing I must handle it at large in the
matter of the communion we have with the Holy Ghost.
1 Rom. iv. 25.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 169

CHAPTER VII.
The nature of purchased grace; referred to three heads : — 1. Of our acceptation
with God ; two parts of it. 2. Of the grace of sanctification ; the several parts
of it.
The fountain of that purchased grace wherein the saints have
commimion with Christ being discovered, in the next place the
nature of this grace itself may be considered. As was said, it may
be referred unto three heads: — 1. Grace of acceptation with God.
2. Grace of sanctification from God. 3. Grace of privUeges with and
before God.
1. Of acceptation with God. Out of Christ, we are in a state of1
alienatiori from God, accepted neither in our persons nor our services.
Sin makes a separation between God and us : — that state, with aU its
consequences and attendancies, [it] is not my business to unfold. The
first issue of purchased grace is to restore us into a state of accepta
tion. And this is done two ways: — (1.) By a removal of that for
which we are refused, — the cause of the enmity. (2.) By a bestowing
of that for which we are accepted.
Not only all causes of quarrel were to be taken away, that so we
should not be under displeasure, but also that was to be given unto
us that makes us the objects of God's dehght and pleasure, on the
account of the want whereof we are distanced from God: —
(1.) It gives a removal of that for which we are refused. This is
sin in the guilt, and all the attendancies thereof. The first issue of
purchased grace tends to the taking away of sin in its guUt, that it
shall not bind over the soul to the wages of it, which is death.
Hbw this is accomplished and brought about by Christ," was evi
denced in the close of the foregoing chapter. It is the fruit and effect
of his death for us. GuUt of sin was the only cause of our separation
and distance from God, as hath been said. This made us obnoxious
to wrath, punishment, and the whole displeasure of God; on the
account hereof were we imprisoned under the curse of the law, and
given up to the power of Satan. This is the state of our unaccep-
tation. By his death, Christ — bearing the curse, undergoing the
punishment that was due to us, paying the ransom that was due for
us — delivers us from this condition. And thus far the death of Christ
is the sole cause of our acceptation with God, — that all cause of
quarrel and rejection of us is thereby taken away. And to that end
are his sufferings reckoned to us; for, being "made sin for us," 2 Cor.
v. 21, he is made "righteousness unto us," 1 Cor. i. 30.
' John iii. 36; Eph. ii. 12, 13. .y

1 70 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
But yet farther; this wUl not complete our acceptation with God.
The old quarrel may be laid aside, and yet no new friendship begun;
we may be not smners, and yet not be so far righteous as to have a
right to the kingdom of heaven. Adam had no right to life because
he was innocent ; he must, moreover, " do this," and then he shall
" live." He must not only have a negative righteousness, — he was
not guUty of any thing; but also a positive righteousness, — he must
do all things.
(2.) This, then, is required, in the second place, to our complete
acceptation, that we have not only the not imputation of sin, but
also a reckoning of righteousness. Now, this we have in the obe
dience of the life of Christ. This also was discovered in the last
chapter. The obedience of the life of Christ was for us, is imputed
to us, and is our righteousness before God ; — by his obedience are we
" made righteous," Rom. v. 19. On what score the obedience of faith
takes place, shall be afterward declared.
These two things, then, complete our grace of acceptation. Sin
being removed, aud righteousness bestowed, we have peace with God,
— are continually accepted before him. There is not any thing to
charge us withal : that which was, is taken out of the way by Christ,
and nailed to his cross, — made fast there; yea, publicly and legally
cancelled, that it can never be admitted again as an evidence. What
court among men would admit of an evidence that hath been pub-
Ucly cancelled, and naUed up for aU to see it? So hath Christ dealt
with that which was against us; and not only so, but also he puts
that upon us for which we are received into favour. He makes us
comely through his beauty; gives us white raiment to stand before
the Lord. This is the first part of purchased grace wherein the saints
have communion with Jesus Christ. In remission of sin and impu
tation of righteousness doth it consist; from the death of Christ, as
a price, sacrifice, and a punishment, — from the life of Christ spent in
obedience to the law, doth it arise. The great product it is of the
Father's righteousness, wisdom, love, and grace; — the great and asto-
nishable fruit of the love and condescension of the Son; — the great
discovery of the Holy Ghost in the revelation of the mystery of the
gospd. 2. The second is grace of sanctification. He makes us not ooly
accepted, but also acceptable. He doth hot only purchase love for
his saints, but also makes them lovely. He came not by blood only,
but by water and blood. He doth not only justify his saints from
the guilt of sin, but also sanctify and Wash them from the filth of
sin. The first is from his life and death as a sacrifice of propitiation;
this from his death as a purchase, and his life as an example. So
the apostle, Heb. ix. 14; as also Eph. v. 26, 27. Two things are

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 171
eminent in this issue of purchased grace : — (1 .) The removal of defile
ment; (2.) The bestowing of cleanness in actual grace.
(1.) For the first, it is also threefold: — ¦
[1.] The habitual cleansing of our nature. We are naturally un
clean, defiled, — habituaUy so; for "Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean?" Job xiv. 4 ; " That which is born of the flesh is flesh,"
John iii. 6. It is in the poUutLon of our blood that we are born,
Ezek. xvi., — wholly defiled and polluted. The grace of sanctifica
tion, purchased by the blood of Christ, removes this defilement of
our nature. 1 Cor. vi. 11, "Such were some of you; but ye are
washed, ye are sanctified." So also Tit. Ui. 3-5, " He hath saved
us by. the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost." How far this original, habitual pollution is removed, need
not be disputed; it is certain the soul is made fair and beautiful in the
sight of God. Though the sin that doth defile remains, yet its habitual
defilement is taken away. But the handling of this lies not in my aim.
[2.] Taking away the pollutions of all our actual transgressions.
There is a defilement attending every actual sin. Our own clothes
make us to be abhorred, Job ix. 31. A spot, a stain, rust, wrinkle,
filth, blood, attends every sin. Now, 1 John i 7, " The blood of Jesus
Christ cleanseth us from all sin." Besides the defilement of our na
tures which he purgeth, Tit. iu. 5, he takes away the defilement of
our persons by actual follies. " By one offering he perfected for ever
them that are sanctified;" by himself he " purged our sins," before he
sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, Heb. i. 3.
[3.] In our best duties we have defilement, Isa. lxiv. 6. Self, un
belief, form, drop themselves into all that we do. We may be ashamed
of our choicest performances. God hath promised that the saints'
good works shall foUow them. Truly, were they to be measured by
the rule as they come from us, and weighed in the balance of the
sanctuary, it might be well for us that they might be buried for ever.
But the Lord Christ first, as our high priest, bears the iniquity, the
guilt, and provocation, which in severe justice doth attend them,
Exod. xxvUi. 38 ; and not only so, but he washes away all their
filth and defilements. He is as a refiner's fire, to purge both the
sons of Levi and their offerings; adding, moreover, sweet incense to
then>, that they may be accepted. Whatever is of the Spirit, of
himself, oi grace, — that remains; whatever is of self, flesh, unbelief
(that is, hay and stubble), — that he consumes, wastes, takes away. So
that the saints' good works shall meet them one day with a changed
countenance, that they shall scarce know them : that which seemed
to them to be black, deformed, defiled, shall appear beautiful and
glorious; they shaU not be afraid of them, but rejoice to see and
follow them.

172 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
And this cleansing of our natures, persons, and duties, hath its
whole foundation in the death of Christ. Hence our washing and
purifying, our cleansing and purging, is ascribed to his blood and the
sprinkling thereof. Meritoriously, this work is done, by the shedding
of the blood of Christ ; efficiently, by its sprinkling. The sprinkling
of the blood of Christ proceedeth from the communication of the
Holy Ghost ; which he promiseth to us, as purchased by him for us.
He is the pure water, wherewith we are sprinkled from all our sins,
• — that spirit of judgment and burning that takes away the filth and
blood of the daughters of Zion. And this is the first thing in the
grace of sanctification ; of which more afterward.
(2.) By bestowing cleanness as to actual grace. The blood of Christ
in this purchased grace doth not only take away defilement, but also
it gives purity; and- that also in a threefold gradation: —
[1.] It gives the Spirit of holiness to dwell in us. " He is made
unto us sanctification," 1 Cor. i. 30, by procuring for us the Spirit of
sanctification. 'Our renewing is pf the Holy Ghost, who is shed on us
through Christ alone, Tit. Ui. 6. This the apostle mainly insists on,
Rom. vUL, — to wit, that the prime and principal gift of sanctification
that we receive from Christ, is the indwelling of the Spirit, and our
following after the guidance hereof. But what concerns the Spirit
in any kind, must be referred to that which I have to offer concern
ing our communion with him.
[2.] He gives us habitual grace; — a principle of grace, opposed to
the principle of lust that is in us by nature. This is the grace that
dwells in us, makes its abode with us; which, according to the dis
tinct faculties of our souls wherein it is, or the distinct objects about
which it is exercised, receiveth various appellations, being indeed aU
but one new principle of life. In the understanding, it is Hght; in
the will, obedience; in the affections, love; in all, faith. So, also, it is
differenced in respect of its operations. When it carries out the soul
to rest on Christ, it is faith; when to delight in him, it is love; but
still one and the same habit of grace. And this is the second thing.
[3.] Actual influence for the performance of every spiritual duty
whatever. After the saints have both the former, yet Christ teUs
them that without him " they can do nothing," John xv. 5. They
are still in dependence upon him for new influences of grace, or sup
pUes of the Spirit. They cannot live and spend upon the old stock;
for every new act they must have new grace. He must " work in us
to wiU and to do of his good pleasure," Phil. u. 13. And in these
three, thus briefly named, consists that purchased grace in the point
of sanctification, as to the collating of purity and cleanness, wherein
we have communion with Christ.
3. This purchased grace consists in privileges to stand before God,

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 173
and these are of two sorts, — primary and consequential. Primary,
is adoption, — the Spirit of adoption ; consequential, are all the fa
vours of the gospel, which the saints alone have right unto. But of
this I shall speak when I come to the last branch, — of communion
with the Holy Ghost.
These are the things wherein we have communion with Christ as
to purchased grace in this Ufe. Drive them up to perfection, and
you have that which we caU everlasting glory. Perfect acceptance,
perfect hoUness, perfect adoption, or inheritance of sons, — that is glory.
Our process now, in the next place, is to what I mainly intend,
even the manner how we hold communion with Christ in these things;
and that in the order laid down ; as, —
I. How we hold communion with him in the obedience of his life
and merit of his death, as to acceptance with God the Father.
II. How we hold communion with Christ in his blood, as to the
Spirit of sanctification, the habits and acts of grace.
III. How we hold communion with him as to the privileges we en
joy. Of which in the ensuing chapters.

CHAPTER VIII.
How the saints hold communion with Christ as to their acceptation with God —
What is required on the part of Christ hereunto; in his intention; in the
declaration thereof — The sum of our acceptation with God, wherein it con
sists — What is'required on the part of believers to this communion, and how
they hold it, with Christ — Some objections proposed to consideration, why the
elect are not accepted immediately on the undertaking and the death of
Christ — In what sense they are so — Christ a common or public person — How
he came to be so — The way of our acceptation with God on that account —
The second objection — The necessity of our obedience stated, Eph. ii. 8-10
— The grounds, causes, and ends of it manifested — Its proper place in the
new covenant — How the saints, in particular, hold communion with Christ in
this purchased grace — They approve of this righteousness ; the grounds there
of — Reject their own ; the grounds thereof— The commutation of sin and
righteousness between Christ and believers ; some objections answered.
I. Communion with Christ in purchased grace, as unto acceptation
with God, from the obedience of his Ufe and efficacy of his death, is
the first thing we inquire into. The discovery of what on the part
of Christ and what on our part is requfred thereunto (for our mutual
actings, even his and ours, are necessary, that we may have fellowship
and communion together herein), is that which herein I intend.
First, On the part of Christ there is no more required but these
two things: — (1.) That what he did, he did not for himself, but for us.

1 74 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
(2.) What he suffered, he suffered not for himself, but for us. That
is, that his intention from eternity, and when he was in the world,
was, that all that he did and suffered was and should be for us and
our advantage, as to our acceptance with God ; that he still continueth
making use of what he so did and suffered for that end and purpose,
and that only. Now, this is most evident : —
(1.) What he did, he did for us, and not for himself: " He was
made under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons,"
Gal. iv. 4, 5. He was made under the law; that is, in that condition
that he was obnoxious to the will and commands of it. And why
was this? to what end? for himself? No; but to redeem us is the
aim of all that he did, — of all his obedience: and that he did. This
very intention in what he did he acquaints us with, John xvii. 19,
" For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they may be sanctified through
the truth." " I sanctify myself, — dedicate and set myself apart to
all that work I have to do. I came not to do my own wUl ; I came
to save that which was lost; to minister; not to be ministered unto; '
and to give my life a ransom;" — it was the testimony he bare to all
he did in the world. This intendment of. his is especially to be
eyed. From eternity he had thoughts of what he would do for us ; and
delighted himself therein. And when he was in the world, in aU he
went about, he had still this thought, " This is for them, and this is
for them, — my beloved." When he went to be baptized, says John,
" I have need to be baptized of thee, and eomest thou to me?" Matt.
iii. 14, 15 ; as if he had said, " Thou hast no need at aU of it." But
says Christ, " Suffer it to be so, now; for thus it becometh us to fulfil
all righteousness;" — "I do it for them who have none at all, and
stand obUged unto aU."
(2.) In what he suffered. This is more clear, Dan. ix. 26, " Messiah
shall be cut off, but not for himself." And the apostle lays down this
as a main difference between him and the high priests of the Jews,
that when they made thefr solemn offerings, they offered first for
themselves, and then for the people; but Jesus Christ offered only
for others. He had no sin, and could make no sacrifice for his own sin,
which he had not, but only for others. He " tasted death every man,"
Heb. ii. 9, — " gave his life a ransom for many," Matt. xx. 28. The
" iniquity of us all was made to meet on him," Isa. liii. 6 ; — " He bare
our sins in his own body on the tree," 1 Pet. iL 24 ; — " loved the church,
and gave himself for it," Eph. v. 25 ; Gal. ii. 20 ; Rom. iv. 25 ; Rev.
L 5, 6; Tit. ii. 14; 1 Tim. ii. 6; Isa. liu. 12; John xvii. 19. But this
is exceeding clear and confessed, that Christ in his suffering and ob
lation, had his intention only upon the good of his elect, and their
acceptation with God; suffering for us, "the just for the unjust, that
he might bring us to God."

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 175
Secondly, To complete this communion on the part of Christ, it is
requfred, —
(1.) That there be added to what he hath done, the gospel tenders
of that complete righteousness and acceptation with God which ariseth
from his perfect obedience and sufferings. Now, they are twofold: —
[1.] Declaratory, in the conditional promises of the gospel. Mark
xvi. 15; Matt. xi. 28, " He that believeth shall be saved;" " Come
unto me, and I will give you rest ;" " As Moses lifted up the serpent,"
etc. ; " Christ is the end of the law fer righteeusness to every one that
beheveth," Rom. x. 4; and innumerable others. Now, declaratory
tenders are very precious, there is much kindness in them, and if they
be rejected, they will be the " savour of death unto death;" but the
Lord Christ knows that the outward letter, though never so effectu
ally held out, will not enable any of his for that reception of his right
eousness which is necessary to interest them therein ; wherefore, —
[2.] In this tender of acceptation with God, on the account of
what he hath done and suffered, a law is established, that whosoever
receives it shall be so accepted. But Christ knows the condition and
state of his in this world. This wiU not do ; if he do not effectually
invest them with it,allis lost. Therefore, —
(2.) He sends them his Holy Spirit; to quicken them, John vi. 63,
— to cause them that are " dead to hear his voice," John v. 25; and to
work in them whatever is required of them, to make them partakers
of his righteousness and accepted with God.
Thus doth Christ deal with his: — he Uves and dies with an inten
tion to work out and complete righteousness for them ; their enjoying
of it, to a perfect acceptation before God, is all that in the one and
other he aimed at. Then he tenders it unto them, declares the use
fulness and preciousness of it to thefr souls, stirring them up to a
desire and valuation of it; and lastly, effectually bestows it upon
them, reckons it unto them as theirs, that they should by it, for it,
with it, be perfectly accepted with his Father.
Thus, for our acceptation with God, two things are required: —
First, That satisfaction be made for our disobedience, — for what
ever we had done which might damage the justice and honour of God ;
and that God be atoned towards us : which could no otherwise be, but
by undergoing the penalty of the law. This, I have showed abun
dantly, is done by the death of Christ. God " made him to be sin for
us," 2 Cor. v. 21, — a " curse," Gal. hi. 13. On this account we have
our absolution, — our acquitment from the guilt of sin, the sentence
of the law, the wrath of God, Rom. vUi. 33, 34. We are justified,
acquitted, freed from condemnation, because it was Christ that died ;
" he bare our sins in his own body on the tree," 1 Pet. u. 24.
Second, That the righteousness of the law be fulfilled, and the

176 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
obedience performed that is requfred at our hands. And this is done
by the Ufe of Christ, Rom. v. 18, 19. So that answerably hereunto,
according to our state and the condition of our acceptation with God,
there are two parts: —
Our absolution from the guilt of sin, that our disobedience be
not charged upon us. This we have by the death of Christ ; our
sins being imputed to him, shaU not be imputed to us, 2 Cor. v. 21;
Rom. iv. 25; Isa. liii. 12.
Imputation of righteousness, that we may be accounted per
fectly righteous before God ; and this we have by the life of Christ.
His righteousness in yielding obedience to the law is imputed to us.
And thus is our acceptation with God completed. Being discharged
from the guilt of our disobedience by the death of Christ, and having
the righteousness of the life of Christ imputed to us, we have friend
ship and peace with God. And this is that which I call our grace
of acceptation with God, wherein we have communion with Jesus
Christ. That which remains for me to do, is to show how beUevers hold
distinct communion with Christ in this grace of acceptation, and how
thereby they keep aUve a sense of it, — the comfort and Ufe of it
being to be renewed every day. Without this, Ufe is a heU; no peace,
no joy can we be made partakers of, but what hath its rise 'from
hence. Lcpk what grounded persuasion we have of our acceptation
with God, that he is at peace with us; thereunto is the revenue of
our peace, comfort, joy, yea, and holiness itself, proportioned.
But yet, before I come in particular to handle our practical com
munion with the Lord Jesus in this thing, I must remove two con
siderable objections; — the one of them lying against the first part of
our acceptation with God, the other against the latter.
Objection 1. For our absolution by and upon the death of Christ,
it may be said, that " if the elect have their absolution, reconcUiation,
and freedom by the death, blood, and cross of Christ, whence is it,
then, that they were not all actually absolved at the death of Christ,
or at least so soon as they are born, but that many of them Uve a
long while under the wrath of God in this world, as being unbelievers,
under the sentence and condemning power of the law? John hi. 36.
Why are they not immediately freed, upon the payment of the price
and making reconciliation for them?"
Obj. 2. " If the obedience of the Ufe of Christ be imputed unto us,
and that is our righteousness before God, then what need we yield
any obedience ourselves? Is not aU our praying, labouring, watching,
fasting, giving alms, — are not aU fruits of holiness, in purity of heart
and usefulness of conversation, all in vain and to no purpose? And
who, then, will or need take care to be holy, humble, righteous, meek,

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST 177
temperate, patient, good, peaceable, or to abound in good works in
the world?"
1. ,1 shall, God assisting, briefly remove these two objections, and
then proceed to carry on the design in hand, about our communion
with Christ: —
(1.) Jesus Christ, in his undertaking of the work of our reconcilia
tion with God, — for which cause he came into the world, — and the
accemplishment of it by his death, was constituted and considered as
a common, public person, in the stead of them for whose reconciliation
to God he suffered. Hence he is the " mediator between God and
man," 1 Tim. ii. 5, — that is, one who undertook to God for us, as the
next words manifest, -verse 6, "Who gave himself a ransom for all," —
and the " surety of the better covenant," Heb. vii. 22; undertaking
for and on the behalf of them with whom that covenant was made.
Hence he is said to be given " for a covenant of the people," Isa. xiii. 6;
and a " leader," lv. 4. He was the second Adam, 1 Cor. xv. 45, 47,
to all ends and purposes of righteousness, tp his spiritual seed, as the
first Adam was of sin to his natural seed, Rom. v. 15-19.
(2.) His being thus a common person, arose chiefly from these
things : —
[1.] In general, from the covenant entered into by himself with
his Father to this purpose. The terms of this covenant are at large
insisted on, Isa. liii., summed up, Ps. xl. 7, 8; Heb. x. 8-1 0. Hence
the Father became to be his God ; which is' a covenant expression,
Ps. Ixxxix. 26; Heb. L 5; Ps. xxii. 1, xl. 8, xiv. 7; Rev. Ui. 12; Mic.
v. 4. So was he by his Father on this account designed to this
work, Isa. xhi. 1, 6, xlix. 9; Mai. Ui. 1; Zech. xiii. 7; John iii. 16;
1 Tim. i. 1 5. Thus the " counsel of peace" became to be "between them
both," Zech vi. 13; that is, the Father and Son. And the Son rejoices
from eternity in the thought of this undertaking, Prov. viii. 22-30.
The command given him to this purpose, the promises made to him
thereon, the assistance afforded to him, I have elsewhere handled.
[2.] In the sovereign grant, appointment, and design of the Father,
giving and delivering the elect to Jesus Christ in this covenant, to be
redeemed and reconciled to himself. John xvii. 6, " Thine they were,
and thou gavest them me." They were God's by eternal designa
tion and election, and he gave them to Christ to be redeemed. Hence,
before their calling or beUeving, he calls them his '' sheep," John x.
15, 16, laying down his life for them as such; and hence are we said
to be " chosen in Christ," Eph. i. 4, or designed to obtain all the fruits
of the love of God by Christ, and committed into his hand for that
end and purpose.
[3.] In his undertaking to suffer what was due to them, and to
do what was to be done by them, that they might be deUvered, recon-
vol. n. 1-*

1 78 OF communion WITH THE SON JESUS CHRTST.
ciled, and accepted with God. And he undertakes to give in to the
Father, without loss or miscarriage, what he had so received of the
Father as above, John xvu. 2, 12, vi. 37, 39; as Jacob did the
cattle he received of Laban, Gen. xxxi. 39, 40. Of both these I have
treated somewhat at large elsewhere, in handUng the covenant between
the Father and the Son ; so that I shall not need to take it up here
again. [4.] They being given unto him, he undertaking for them to do
and suffer what was on their part required, he received, on their behalf
and for them, all ihe promises of aU the mercies, grace, good things,
and privileges, which they were to receive upon the account of his
undertaking for them. On this account eternal life is said to be
promised of God " before the world began," Tit. i 2; that is, to the Son
of God for us, on his undertaking on our behalf. And grace, also, is
said to be given unto us " before the world began," 2 Tim. i. 9 ; that
is, in Christ, our appointed head, mediator, and representative.
[5.] Christ being thus a common person, a mediator, surety, and
representative, of his church, upon his undertaking, as to efficacy and
merit, and upon his actual performance, as to solemn declaration, was
as such acquitted, absolved, justified, and freed, from all and every
thing that, on the behalf of the elect, as due to them, was charged
upon him, or could so be ; I say, as to aU the efficacy and merit of
his undertakings, he was immediately absolved upon his faithfulness,
in his first engagement": and thereby all the saints of the Old Testa
ment were saved by his blood no less than we. As to solemn decla
ration, he was so absolved when, the " pains of death being loosed,
he was "declared to be the Son of God with power, by the resurrection
from the dead;" Rom. i. 4, God saying to hun, " Thou art my Son;
this day have I begotten thee," Ps. u. 7. And this his absolution doth
Christ express his confidence of, Isa. 1. 5-9. And he was "justified,"
1 Tim. iii. 16. That which I intend by this absolution of Christ as
a public person is this : — God having made him under the law, for
them who were so, Gal. iv. 4 ; in thefr stead, obnoxious to the punish
ment due to sin, made him sin, 2 Cor. v. 21 ; and so gave justice,
and law, and all the consequents of the curse thereof, power against
him, Isa. lui. 6 ; — upon his undergoing of that which was required of
him, verse 12, God looses the pains and power of death, accepts him,
and is well pleased with him, as to the performance and discharge
of his work, John xvii. 3-6 ; pronounceth him free from the obliga-
tipn that was pn him, Acts xin. ; and gave him a promise of all good
things he aimed at, and which his soul desired. Hereon are all the
promises of God made to Christ, and their accomplishment, — all the
encouragements given him to ask and make demand of the things '
originally engaged for to him, Pa u. 8, (which he did accordingly, Joh»

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 1 79
xvii.), — founded and built. And here lies the certain, stable founda
tion of our absolution, and acceptation with God. Christ in our stead,
acting for us as our surety, being acquitted, absolved, solemnly de
clared to have answered the whole debt that was incumbent on him
to pay, and made satisfaction for all the injury we had done, a gene
ral pardon is sealed for us all, to be sued out particularly in the way
to be appointed. For, —
[6.] Christ as a pubhc person being thus absolved, it became right
eous with God, a righteous thing, from the covenant, compact, and
convention, that was between him and the Mediator, that those in
whose stead he was, should obtain, and have bestowed on them, all
the fruits of his death, in reconciliation with God, Rom. v. 8-1 1 ;
that as Christ received the general acquittance for them all, so they
should every one of them enjoy it respectively. This is everywhere
manifested in those expressions which express a commutation de
signed by God in this matter ; as 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Gal. Ui. ] 3 ; 1 Pet.
ii. 21, 24; — of which afterward.
[7.] Being thus acquitted in the covenant of the Mediator (whence
they are said to be circumcised with him, to die with him, to be
buried with him, to rise with him, to sit with him in heavenly places, —
namely, in the covenant of the Mediator), and it being righteous that
they should be acquitted personally in the covenant of grace, it was
determined by Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that the way of their
actual personal deliverance from the sentence and curse of the law
should be in and by such a way and dispensation as might lead to
the praise of the. glorious grace of God, Eph i 5-7. The appoint
ment of God is, that we shall have the adoption of children. The
means of it, is by Jesus Christ ; the peculiar way of bringing it about,
is by the redemption that is in his blood ; the end, is the praise, of his
glorious grace. And thence it is, —
[8.] That until the full time of thefr actual deUverance, determined
and appointed to them in their several generations, be accomplished,
they are personally under the curse of the law; and, on that account,
are legally obnoxious to the wrath ef God, from which they shall cer
tainly be delivered ; — I say, they are thus personally obnoxious to the
law, and the curse thereof ; but not at all with its primitive intention
of execution upon them, but as it is a means appointed to help for
ward their acquaintance with Christ, and acceptance with God, on his
account. When this is accomplished, that whole obligation ceases,
being continued on them in a design of love ; their last condition being
such as that they cannot without it be brought to a participation of
Christ, tp the praise ef the glpripus grace ef Gpd.
[9.] The end of the dispensation of grace being to glorify the whole
Trinity, the order fixed on and appointed wherein this is to be done,

180 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
is, by ascending to the Father's love through the work of the Spirit
and blood of the Son. The emanation of divine love to us begins
with the Father, is carried on by the Son, and then communicated
by the Spirit; the Father designing, the Son purchasing, the Spirit
effectually working: which is their order. Our participation is first
by the work of the Spirit, to an actual interest in the blood of the
Son ; whence we have acceptation with the Father.
This, then, is the order whereby we are brought to acceptation
with the Father, for the glory of God through Christ : —
1st. That the Spirit may be glorified, he is given unto us, to
quicken us, convert us, work faith in us, Rom. viU. 11; Eph. i. 19, 20;
according to all the promises of the covenant, Isa. iv. 4, 5; Ezek.
xi. 19, xxxvi. 26.
2dly. This being wrought in us, for the glory of the Son, we are
actually interested, according to the tenor of the covenant, at the same
instant of time, in the blood of Christ, as to the benefits which he
- hath procured for us thereby ; yea, this very work of the Spirit itself
is a fruit and part of the purchase of Christ. But we speak of our
sense of this thing, whereunto the communication of the Spirit is
antecedent. And, —
3dly. To the glory of the Father, we are accepted with him, justi
fied, freed from guilt, pardoned, and have " peace with God," Rom.
v. 1. Thus, " through Christ we have access by one Spirit unto the
Father," Eph. ii. 17 And thus are both Father and Son and the
Holy Spirit glorified in our justification and acceptation with God;
the Father in his free love, the Son in his full purchase, and the
Holy Spfrit in his effectual working.
[10.] All this, in all the parts of it, is no less fully procured for us,
nor less freely bestowed on us, for Christ's sake, on his account, as
part of his purchase and merits, than if aU of us immediately upon
his death, had been translated into heaven; only this way of our
deliverance -and freedom is fixed on, that the whole Trinity may be
glorified thereby. And this may suffice in answer to the first objec
tion. Though our reconciliation with God be fully and completely
procured by the death of Christ, and all the ways and means whereby
it is accomplished; yet we are brought unto an actual enjoyment
thereof, by the way and in the order mentioned, for the praise of the
glorious grace of God.
2. The second objection is, " That if the righteousness and obedi
ence of Christ to the law be imputed unto us, then what need we
yield obedience ourselves ?" To this, also, I shall return answer as
briefly as I can in the ensuing observations: —
(1.) The placing of our gospel obedience on the right foot of
account (that it may neither be exalted into a state, condition, use,

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 181
or end, not given it of God ; nor any reason, cause, motive, end, ne
cessity of it, on the other hand, taken away, weakened, or impaired),
is a matter of great importance. Some make our obedience, the
works of faith, our works, the matter or cause of our justification;
some, the condition of the imputation of the righteousness of Christ ;
some, the qualification of the person justified, on the one hand ; some
exclude aU the necessity of them, and turn the grace of God into
lasciviousness, on the other. To debate these differences is not my pre
sent business; only, I say, on this and other accounts, the right stating
of our obedience is of great importance as to our walking with God.
(2.) We do by no means assign the same place, condition, state,
and use to the obedience of Christ imputed to us, and our obedience
performed to- God. If we did, they were really inconsistent. And
therefore those who affirm that our obedience is the condition or
cause of our justification, do all of them deny the imputation of the
obedience of Christ unto us. The righteousness of Christ is imputed
to us, as that on the account whereof we are accepted and esteemed
righteous before God, and are really so, though not inherently. We
are as truly righteous with the obedience of Christ imputed to us as
Adam was, or could have been, by a complete righteousness of his
own performance. So Rom. v. 18, by his obedience we are made
righteous, — made so truly, and so accepted ; as by the disobedience of
Adam we are truly made trespassers, and so accounted. And this is
that which the apostle desires to be found in, in opposition to his own
righteousness, Phil. iii. 9. But our own obedience is not the right
eousness whereupon we are accepted and justified before God; although
it be acceptable to God that we should abound therein. And this
distinction the apostle doth evidently deliver and confirm, so as no
thing can be more clearly revealed: Eph. ii. 8-10, " For by grace are
ye saved through faith : and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of
God : not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his work
manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
prepared that we should walk in them." We are saved, or justified
(for that it is whereof the apostle treats), " by grace through faith,"
which receives Jesus Christ and his obedience; " not of work's, lest
any man should boast." " But what works are they that the apostle
intends?" The works of beUevers, as in the very beginning of the
next words is manifest: " ' For we are,' we believers, with our obedi
ence and our works, of whom I speak." " Yea; but what need, then,
of wprks?" Need still there is: "We are his werkmanship," eta
Two things the apostle intimates in these words : —
[1.] A reason why we cannot be saved by works, — namely, be
cause we do them not in or by our own strength; which is necessary
we should do, if we will be saved by them, or justified by them. " But

182 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
this is not so," saith the apostle; "for we are' the workmanship of
God," etc. ; — all our works are wrought in us, by full and effectual
undeserved grace.
[2.] An assertion of the necessity of good works, notwithstanding
that we are not saved by them; and that is, that God has ordained
that we shall walk in them: which is a sufficient ground of our
obedience, whatever be the use of it.
If you will say, then, "What are the true and proper gospel grounds,
reasons, uses, and motives of our obedience; whence the necessity
thereof may be demonstrated, and our souls be stirred up to abound
and be fruitful therein?" I say, they are so many, and Ue so deep
in the mystery of the gospel and dispensation of grace, spread them
selves so throughout the whole revelation of the wUl of God unto us,
that to handle them fully and distinctly, and to give them their due
weight, is a thing that I cannot engage in, lest I should be turned
aside from what I principally intend. I shall only give you some
brief heads of what might at large be insisted on: —
1st. Our universal obedience and good works are indispensably
necessary, from the sovereign appointment and will of God; Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost.
In general. " This is the will of God, even your sanctificatipn,"
or holiness, 1 Thess. iv. 3. This is that which God wiUs, which he
requires of- us, — that we be holy, that we be obedient, that we do his
wiU as the angels do in heaven. The equity, necessity, profit, and
advantage of this ground pf pur obedience might at large be insisted
on; and, were there no more, this might suffice alone, — if it" be the
will of God, it is our duty : —
(1st) The Father hath ordained or appointed it. It is the will of
the Father, Eph. ii. 10. The Father is spoken of personally, Christ
being mentioned as mediator.
(2dly.) The Son hath ordained and appointed it as mediator. John
xv. 16, "'I have ordained you, that ye should bring forth fruit' of
obedience, and that it should remain." And, —
(3dly.) The Holy Ghost appoints and ordains believers to works of
obedience and holiness, and to work holiness in others. So, in parti
cular, Acts xiii. 2, he appoints and designs men to the great work of
obedience in preaching the gospel. And in sinning, men sin against
him. 2dly. Our holiness, our obedience, work of righteousness, is one
eminent and especial end of the peculiar dispensation of Father, Son,
and Spirit, in the business of exalting the glory of God in our salva
tion, — of the electing love of the Father, the purchasing love of the
Son, and the operative love of the Spirit : —
(1st.) It is a pecuUar end of the electing love of the Father, Eph

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 183
i. 4, " He hath chosen us, that we should be holy and without blame."
So Isa, iv. 3, 4. His aim and design in choosing of us was, that we
should be holy and unblamable before him in love. This he is to
accomplish, and wUl bring about iu them that are his. " He chooses
us to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the
truth," 2 Thess. ii. 13. This the Father designed as the first and
immediate end of electing love; and proposes the consideration of that
love as a motive to holiness, 1 John iv. 8-10.
(2dly.) It is so also of the exceeding love of the Son ; whereof the
testimonies are innumerable. I shall give but one or two : — Tit. ii. 14,
" Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."
This was his aim, his design, in giving himself for us; as Eph. v. 25-27,
"Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word ; that
he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or
¦wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without
blemish." 2 Cor. v. 15; Rom. vi. 11.
(3dly.) It is the very work of the love of the Holy Ghost. His whole
work upon us, in us, for us, consists in preparing of us for obedience ;
enabling of us thereunto, and bringing forth the fruits of it in us.
And this he doth in opposition to a righteousness of our own, either
before it or to be made up by it, Tit. Ui. 5. I need not insist on this.
The fruits of the Spirit in us are known, Gal. v. 22, 23.
And thus have we a twpfold bottom of the necessity of our obe
dience and personal holiness: — God hath appointed it, he requires it;
and it is an eminent immediate end of the distinct dispensation of
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in the work of our salvation^ If God's
sovereignty over us is to be owned, if his love towards us be to be
regarded, if the whole work of the ever-blessed Trinity, for us, in us,
be of any moment, our obedience is necessary.
3dly. It is necessary in respect of the end thereof; and that whether
you consider God, ourselves, or the world: —
(1st.) The end of our obedience, in respect-of God, is, his glory and
honour, Mai. i. 6. This is God's honour, — all that we give him. It
is true, he wiU take his honour from the stoutest and proudest rebel
in the world ; but aU we give him is in our obedience. The glorifying
of God by our obedience is all that we are or can be. Particularly, —
[1st] It is the glory of the Father. Matt. v. J 6, " Let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify
your Father which is in heaven." By our walking in the light of
faith doth glory arise to the Father. The fruits of his love, of his
grace, of his kindness, are seen upon us; and God is glorified in 'our
behalf. And, —

184 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
[2c%.] The Son is glorified thereby. It is the will of God that
as all men honour the Father, so should they honour the Son, John
v. 23. And how is this done? By believing in him, John xiv. 1;
obeying of him. Hence, John xvU. 10, he says he is glorified in be
lievers ; and prays for an increase of grace and union for them, that
he may yet be more glorified, and all might know that, as mediator,
he was sent of God.
[3dly.] The Spirit is glorified also by it He is grieved by our
disobedience, Eph. iv. 30 ; and therefore his glory is in our bringing
forth fruit. He dwells in us, as in his temple ; which is not to be
defiled. Holiness becometh his habitation for ever.
Now, if this that hath been said be not sufficient tc evince a neces
sity cf our obedience, we must suppose ourselves to speak with a sort
of men who regard neither the sovereignty, nor love, nor glory of God,
Father, Son, or Holy Ghost. Let men say what they please, though
our obedience should be all lost, and never regarded (which is impos
sible, for God is not unjust, to forget our labour of love), yet here is
'a sufficient bottom, ground, and reason of yielding more obedience
unto God than ever we shall do whUst we live in this world. I speak
also only of gospel grounds of obedience, and not of those that are
natural and legal, which are indispensable to all mankind.
(2dly.) The end in respect of ourselves immediately is threefold: —
[1st] Honour. [2c%.] Peace. [3c%.] Usefulness.
[1st] Honour. It is by holiness that we are made Uke unto God,
and his image is renewed again in us. This was our honour at our
creation, this exalted us above all our fellow-creatures here below, — ¦
we were made in the image of God. This we lost by sin, and became
like the beasts that perish. To this honour, of conformity to God, of
bearing his image, are we exalted again by holiness alone. " Be ye
holy," says God, " for I am holy," 1 Pet. i. 16; and, " Be ye perfect"
(that is, in doing good), "even as your Father which is in heaven is per
fect," Matt. v. 48, — in a Ukeness and conformity to him. And herein
is the image of God' renewed ; Eph. iv. 23, 24, therein we " put on the
new man, which after God is created in righteousness and hoUness
of truth." This was that which originally was attended with power
and dominion; — is still all that is beautiful or comely in the world.
How it makes men honourable and precious in the sight of God, of
angels, of men ; how alone it is that which is not despised, which is
of price before the Lord; what contempt and scorn he hath of them
in whom it is not,— in what abomination he hath them and aU their
ways, — might easily be evinced.
[2dly.] Peace. By it we have communion with God, wherein peace
alone is to be enjoyed. " The wicked are like the troubled sea, that
cannot rest;" and, " There is no peace" to them, " saith my God," Isa.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 185
IviL 20, 21 . There is no peace, rest, or quietness, -in a distance, sepa
ration, or alienation from God. He is the rest of our souls. In the
hght of his countenance is life and peace. Now, " if we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another," 1 John
i 7; " and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son
Jesus Christ," verse 3. He that walks in the Ught of new obedience,
he hath communion with God, and in his presence is fulness of joy
for ever; without it, there is nothing but darkness, and wandering, and
confusion. [3o7y.] Usefulness. A man without holiness is good for nothing.
" Ephraim," says the prophet, " is an empty vine, that brings forth
fruit to itself." And what is such a vine good for? Nothing.
Saith another prophet, " A man cannot make so much as a pin of it,
to hang a vessel on." A barren tree is good for nothing, but tp be
cut dpwn for the fire. Notwithstanding the seeming usefulness of
men who serve the providence of God in their generations, I could
easUy manifest that the world and the church might want them, and
that, indeed, in themselves they are good for nothing. Only the holy
man is commune bonum.
(3dly.) The end of -it in respect of others in the world is mani
fold:— [1 st] It. serves to the conviction and stopping the mouths of some
of the enemies of God, both here and hereafter: — 1. Here. 1 Pet. hi.
16, " Having a good conscience; that, wherein they speak evU of you,
as of evil-doers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good
conversation in Christ." By our keeping of a good conscience men
wUl be made ashamed of their false accusations; that whereas their
malice and hatred of the Ways of God hath provoked them to speak
all manner of evil of the profession of them, by the holiness and right
eousness of the saints, they are convinced and made ashamed, as a
thief is when he is taken, and be driven to acknowledge that God is
amongst them, and that they are wicked themselves, John xvii. 23.
2. Hereafter. It is said that the saints shaU judge the world. It
is on this, as well as upon other considerations: — their good works,
thefr righteousness, thefr hoUness, shall be brought forth, and mani
fested to all the world ; and the righteousness of God's judgments
against wicked men be thence evinced. " See," says Christ, " these
are they that I own, whom you so despised and abhorred ; and see
their works following them: this and that they have done, when you
wallowed in your abominations," Matt. xxv. 42, 43.
[2dly ] The conversion of others. 1 Pet. ii. 12, " Having your con
versation honest among the GentUes; that, wherein they speak against
you as evil-doers, they may, by your good works, which they shall
behold, glorify God in the day of visitation," Matt. v. 16. Even

186 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
revUers,^ persecutors, evil-speakers, have been overcome by the con
stant holy walking of professors; and when their day of visitation
hath come, have glorified God on that account, 1 Pet. UL 1, 2.
[3dly.] The benefit of all; partly in keeping off judgments from
the residue of men, as ten good men would have preserved Sodom:1
partly by thefr real communication of good to them with whom they
have to do in their generation. Holiness makes a man a good man,
useful to all; and others eat of the fruits of the Spirit that he brings
forth continually.
[ithly.] It is necessary in respect of the state and condition of
justified persons; and that whether you consider their relative state
of acceptation, or their state of sanctification: —
First. They are accepted and received into friendship with a holy
God, — a God of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, — who hates
every unclean thing. And is it not necessary that they should be
holy who are admitted into his presence, walk in his sight, — yea, Ue
in his bosom? Should they not with aU dUigence cleanse themselves
from aU poUution of2 flesh and spirit, and perfect hoUness in the fear
of the Lprd ?
Secondly. In respect of sanctification. We have in us a new crea
ture, 2 Cor. v. 1 7. This new creature is fed, cherished, nourished, kept
alive, by the fruits of holiness. To what end hath God given us new
hearts, and new natures ? Is it that we should kiU them ? stifle the
creature that is found in us in the womb ? that we should give him
to the old man to be devoured ?
[5thly.] It is necessary in respect of the proper place of holiness
iu the new covenant ; and that is twpfold : —
First. Of the means unto the end. God hath appointed that holi
ness shall be the means, sthe way to that eternal life, which, as in it
self and originally [it] is his gift by Jesus Christ, so, with regard to
his constitution of our obedience, as the means of attaining it, [it]
is a reward, and God in bestowing of it a rewarder. Though it be
neither the cause, matter, nor condition of our justification, yet it is
the way appointed of God for us to walk in for the obtaining of sal
vation. And therefore, he that hath hope of eternal Ufe purifies him
self, as he is pure : and none shall ever come to that end who walketh
not in that way; for without holiness it is impossible to see God.
Secondly. It is a testimony and pledge of adoption, — a sign and
evidence of grace; that is, of acceptation with God. And, —
Thirdly. The whole expression of our thankfulness.
Now, there is not one of all these causes and reasons of the neces-
1 Gen. xviii. 32. 2 2 Cor. Vii. 1.
8 Rom. vi. 23; Heb. xi. 6; Gen. xvii. 1; Ps. xix. 11, lviii. 11; Matt. v. 12,x. 41;
Rom. iv. 4; Col. ii. 18, iii. 24; Heb. x. 35, xi. 26; 2 Pet. ii. 13.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 187
sity, the indispensable necessity of our obedience, good warks, and
personal righteousness, but would require a more large discourse to
unfold and explain than I have aUotted to the proposal of them all ;
and innumerable others there are of the same import, that I cannot
name. He that upon these accounts doth not think universal holi
ness and obedience to be of indispensable necessity, unless also it be
exalted into the room of the obedience and righteousness of Christ,
let him be filthy stUl.
These objections being removed, and having, at the entrance of this
chapter, declared what is done on the part of Christ, as to our fellow
ship with him in this purchased grace, as to our acceptation with God,
it remains that I now show what also is required and perfprmed
pn pur part for the completing thereof. This, then, consists in the
ensuing particulars : —
1. The saints cordially approve of this righteousness, as that
alone which is absolutely complete, and able to make them acceptable
before God. And this supposeth six things : —
(1.) Their clear and full conviction of the necessity of a righteous
ness wherewith to appear before God. This is always in thefr
thoughts ; this in their whole lives they take for granted. Many men
spend their days in obstinacy and hardness, adding drunkenness unto
thirst, never once inquiring what their condition shall be when they
enter into eternity; others trifle away their time and their souls,
sowing the wind of empty hopes, and preparing to reap a whirlwind
of wrath; but this Ues at the bottom of all the saints' communion
with Christ, — a deep, fixed, resolved persuasion of an absolute and
indispensable necessity of a righteousness wherewith to appear before
God. The holiness of God's nature, the righteousness of his govern
ment, the severity of his law, the terror of his wrath, are always before
them. They have been all convinced of sin, and have looked on
themselves as ready to sink under the vengeance due to it. They
have all cried, " Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved?"
"Wherewith shall we come before God?" and have all concluded,
that it is in vain to flatter themselves with hopes of escaping as they
are by nature. If God be holy and righteous, and of purer eyes than
to behold iniquity, they must have a righteousness to stand before
him; and they know what will be the cry one day of those who now
bear up themselves, as if they were otherwise minded, Isa. liii. 1-5 ;
Mic. vi. 6, 7.
(2.) They weigh their own righteousness in the balance, and find
it wanting; and this two ways:- —
[1.] In general, and upon the whole of the matter, at thefr first
setting themselves before God. When men are convinced of the
necessity of a righteousness, they catch at every thing that presents

188 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
itself to them for relief. Like men ready to sink in deep waters,
[they] catch at that which is next, to save them from drowning ; which
sometimes proves a rotten stick, that sinks with them. So did the
Jews, Rom. ix. 31, 32; they caught hold of the law, and it would not
relieve them; and how they perished with it the apostle declares,
chap. x. 1-4. The law put them upon setting up a righteousness of
thefr own. This kept them doing, and in hope; but kept them from
submitting to the righteousness of Goo!. Here many perish, and'
never get one step nearer God all thefr days. This the saints re
nounce; they have no confidence in the flesh : they know that all they
can do, all that the law can do, which is weak through the flesh, will
not avail them. See what judgment Paul makes of all a man's own
righteousness, Phil. ni. 8-10. This they bear in thefr minds daily,
this they fill their thoughts withal, that upon the account of what
they have done, can do, ever shaU do, they cannot be accepted with
God, or justified thereby. This keeps their souls humble, full of a
sense of their own vUeness, all their days.
[2.] In particular. They daily weigh all their particular actions
in the balance, and find them wanting, as te any such completeness
as, upon their own account, to be accepted with God. " Oh ! " says a
saint, " if I had nothing to commend me unto God but this prayer,
this duty, this conquest of a temptation, wherein I myself see so many
failings, so much imperfection, could I appear with any boldness before
him? Shall I, then, piece up a garment of righteousness out of my best
duties? Ah ! it is all as a defiled cloth," Isa. lxiv. 6. These thoughts
accompany them in all their duties, in their best and most choice per
formances: — " Lord, what am I in my best estate? How Uttle suit
ableness unto thy holiness is in my best duties ! 0 spare me, in refer
ence to the best thing that ever I did in my life •" Neh. xui. 22. When
a man who lives upon convictions hath got some enlargements in
duties, some conquest over a sin or temptation, he hugs himself, like
Micah when he had got a Levite to be his priest : now surely it shah
be well with him, now God wUl bless him : his heart is now at ease ,
he hath peace in what he hath done. But he who has communion
with Christ, when he is highest in duties of sanctification and holi
ness, is clearest in the apprehension of his oiun unprofitableness, and
rejects every thought that might arise in his heart of setting his
peace in them, or upon them. He says to his soul, " Do these things
seem something to thee? Alas! thou hast to do with an infinitely
righteous God, who looks through and through all that vanity, which
thou art but little acquainted withal ; and should he deal with thee
according to thy best works, thou must perish."
(3.) They approve of, value, and rejoice in, this righteousness, for
their acceptation, which the Lord Jesus hath wrought out and pro-

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 189
vided for them; this being discovered to them, they approve of it
with all thefr hearts, and rest in it. Isa. xiv. 24, " Surely, shall one say,
in the Lord have I righteousness and strength." This is their voice
and language, when once the righteousness of God in Christ is made
known unto them : " Here is righteousness indeed ; here have I rest
for my soul. Like the merchantman in the gospel (Matt. xiii. 45, 46)
that finds the pearl of price, I had been searching up and down; I
looked this and that way for help, but it was far away ; I spent my
strength for that which was net bread: here is that, indeed, which
makes me rich for ever!" When first the righteousness of Christ, for
acceptation with God, is revealed to a poor labouring soul, that hath
sought for rest and hath found none, he is surprised and amazed, and
is not able to contain himself: and such a one always in his heart
approves this righteousness on a twofold account : —
[1.] As full of infinite wisdom. " Unto them that believe," saith
the apostle, " Christ crucified is ' the wisdom of God,' " 1 Cor. i 24.
They see infinite wisdom in this way of thefr acceptaticn with God.
" In what darkness," says such a one, " in what straits, in what entan
glements, was my poor soul! How little able was I to look through
the clpuds and perplexities wherewith I was encempassed ! I lppked
inwards, and there was nothing but sin, horror, fear, tremblings; I
looked upwards, and saw nothing but wrath, curses, and vengeance.
I knew that God was a holy and righteous God, and that no unclean
thing could abide before him ; I knew that I was a poor, vUe, un
clean, and sinful creature; and how to bring these two together in
peace, I knew not. But in the righteousness of Christ doth a
world of wisdom open itself, dispelling all difficulties and darkness,
and manifesting a reconcUiation of aU this." " 0 the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" Rom. xi. 33;
Col. u. 3. But of this before.
[2.] As full of grace. He knows that sin had shut up the
whole way of grace towards him; and whereas God aims at nothing
so much as the manifestation of his grace, he was utterly cut short of
it. Now, to have a complete righteousness provided, and yet abun
dance of grace manifested, exceedingly delights the soul ; — to have
God's dealing with his person all grace, and dealing with his right
eousness all justice, takes up his thoughts. God -everywhere assures
us that this righteousness is of grace. It is " by grace, and no more
of works," Rom xi. 6, as the apostle at large sets it out, Eph. ii. 7-9.
It is from riches of grace and kindness that the provision of this
righteousness is made. It is of mere grace that it is bestowed on us,
it is not at all of works; though it be in itself a righteousness of
works, yet to us it is of mere grace. So Tit. hi. 4-7, " But after that
the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not

190 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his
mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of
the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Saviour, that being justified by his grace, we should be
made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." The rise of aU this
dispensation is kindness and love; that is, grace, verse 4. The way
of communication, negatively, is not by works of righteousness that
we have done ; — positively, by the communication of the Holy Ghost.
verse 5; the means of whose procurement is Jesus Christ, verse 6; —
and the work itself is by grace, verse 7. Here is use made of every
word almost, whereby the exceeding rich grace, kindness, mercy, and
goodness of God may be expressed, all concurring in tins work. As:
1. XpwroTrig, — his goodness, benignity, readiness to communicate of
himself and his good things that may be profitable to us. 2. */Xav-
6pu<7r!a, — mercy, love, and propensity of mind to help, assist, reUeve
them of whom he speaks, towards whom he is so affected. 3. "EXsos, —
mercy, forgiveness, compassion, tenderness, to them that suffer; and
yap ig, — free pardoning bounty, undeserved love. And all this is said to
be roD ©foi! emrriptg, — he exercises all these properties and attributes of
his nature towards us that he may save us; and in the bestowing of
it, giving us the Holy Ghost, it is said, £|£%eev, — he poured him out as
water out of a vessel, without stop and hesitation ; and that not in a
small measure, but vr\ou6iug, — richly and in abundance :' whence, as to
the work itself, it is emphatically said, dixaiuQivng r$j sxihou x",?'T'i —
justified by the grace of him who is such a one. And this do the
saints of God, in their communion with Christ, exceedingly rejoice in
before him, that the way of their acceptation before God is a way of
grace, kindness, and mercy, that they might not boast in themselves,
but in the Lord and his goodness, crying, " How great is thy good
ness ! how great is thy bounty ! "
(4.) They approve of it, and rejoice in it, as a way of great peace
and security to themselves and their own souls. They remember
what was their state and condition whilst they went about to set up a
righteousness of their own, and were not subject to the righteousness
of Christ, — how miserably they were tossed up and down with con
tinual fluctuating thoughts. Sometimes they had hope, and sometimes
were full of fear ; sometimes they thought themselves in some good
condition, and anon were at the very brink of hell, their consciences
being racked and torn with sin and fear : but now, " being justified
by faith, they have peace with God," Rom. v. 1. AU is quiet and
serene; not only that storm is over, but they are in the haven where
they would be. They have abiding peace with God. Hence is that
description of Christ to a poor soul, Isa. xxxU. 2, " And a man shall
be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 191
rivers' of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weaiy
land." Wind and tempest, and drought and weariness, — nothing
now troubles the soul that is in Christ; he hath a hiding-place, and
a covert, and rivers of water, /and the shadow of a great rock, for his
security. This is the great mystery. of faith in this business of our
acceptation with God by Christ: — that whereas the soul of a believer
finds enough in him and upon him to rend the very caul of the
heart, to fill him with fears,, terror, disquietments all his days, yet
through Christ he is at perfect peace with God, Isa. xxvi. 3; Ps. iv.
6-8. Hence do the souls of believers exceedingly magnify Jesus
Christ, that they can behold the face of God with boldness, confidence,
peace, joy, assurance, — that they can call him Father, bear themselves
on his love, walk up and down in quietness, and without fear. How
glorious is the Son of God in this grace ! They remember the worm
wood and gall that they have eaten; — the vinegar and tears they
have drunk ; — the trembling of their souls, Uke an aspen leaf that is
shaken with the wind. Whenever they thought of God, what con
trivances have they had to hide, and fly, and escape! To be brought
now to settlement and security, must needs greatly affect them.
(5.) They cordially approve of this righteousness, because it is a
way and means of exceeding exaltation and honour of the Lord Jesus,
whom their souls do love. Being once brought to an acquaintance
with Jesus Christ, thefr hearts desire nothing more than that he may
be honoured and glorified to the utmost, and in all things have the
pre-eminence. Now, what can more tend to the advancing and hon
ouring of him in our hearts, than to know that he is made of God
unto us " wisdom and righteousness?" 1 Cor. i. 30. Not that he is
this or that part of our acceptation with God; but he is all, — he is
the whole. They know that on the account of 'his working out their
acceptation with God, he is, —
[1.] Honoured of God his Father. Phil, ii 7-11, " He made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name : that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in
earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should con
fess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Whether that word " wherefore " denotes a connection of causality or
only a consequence, this is evident, that on the account of his suffer-
ino-, and as the end of it, he was 1honoured and exalted of God to an
f Ps. ex. I, 5, ii. 8, 9 ; Zech. ix. 10 ; Ps. lxxii. 8 ; Rom. xiv. 11 ; Isa. x v. 23 ;
PhU. ii. 10.

192 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
unspeakable pre-eminence, dignity, and authority; according as God
had promised him on the same account, Isa. Uu. 11, 12; Acts ii. 36,
v. 30, 31. And therefore it is said, that when " he had by himseff
purged our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on
high," Heb. i. 3.
[2.] He is on this account honoured of aU the angels in heaven,
even because of this great work of bringing sinners unto God; for
they do not only bow down and desire to look into the mystery of
the cross, 1 Pet. i 12, but worship and praise him always on this
account: Rev. v. 11-14, " I heard the voice of many angels round
about the throne, and the living creatures and the elders : and the
number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands
of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and
honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in hea
ven and earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all
that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and
power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb
for ever and ever. And the Uving creatines said, Amen. And the
four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for
ever and ever." The reason given of this glorious and wonderful
doxology, this attribution of honour and glory to Jesus Christ by the
whole host of heaven, is, because he was the Lamb that was slain;
that is, because of the work of our redemption and our bringing unto
God. And it is not a little refreshment and rejoicing to the souls of
the saints, to know that all the angels of God, the whole host of
heaven, which never sinned, do yet continually rejoice and ascribe
praise and honour to the Lord Jesus, for his bringing them to peace
and favour with God.
[3.] He is honoured by his saints all the world over; and in
deed, if they do not, who should? If they honour hun not as they
honour the Father, they are, of all men, the most unworthy. But
see what they do, Rev. i 5, 6, " Unto him that loved us, and washed
us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests
unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and
ever. Amen." Chap. v. 8-10, " The four Uving creatures and four
and twenty elders fell dowri before the Lamb, having every one, of
them harps, and golden vials fuU of odours, which are the prayers of
saints. And they sung a new song, saymg, Thou art worthy to take
the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and
pepple, and nation ; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests :
and we shall reign on the earth." The great, solemn worship of the
Christian church consists in this assignation of honour and glory to

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 193
the Lord Jesus : therefore do they love him, honour him, dehght iu
him; as Paul, Phil. Ui. 8; and so the spouse, Cant. v. 9-16. And this
is on this account, —
(6.) They cordially approve of this righteousness, this way of ac
ceptation, as that which brings glory to God as such. When they
were labouring under the guUt of sin, that which did most of all per
plex their souls was, that their safety was inconsistent with the glory
and honour of the great God, — Vith his justice, faithfulness, and
truth, all which were engaged for the destruction of sin ; and how to
come off from ruin without the loss of their honour [i. e., the honour
of the fore-mentioned attributes] they saw not. But now by the reve
lation of this righteousness from faith to faith, they plainly see that all
the properties of God are exceedingly glorified in the pardon, justifi
cation, and acceptance of poor sinners; as before was manifested.
And this is the first way whereby the saints hold daUy communion
with the Lord Jesus in this purchased grace of acceptation with Gpd -.
they ccnsider, approve pf, and rejoice in, the way, means, and thing
itself. 2. They make an actual commutation with the Lord Jesus as to
thefr sins and his righteousness. Of this there are also sundry parts : —
(1.) They continuaUy keep alive upon their hearts a sense of ihe
guilt and evil of sin ; even then when they are under some comfort
able persuasions of thefr personal acceptance with God. Sense of
pardon takes away the horror and fear, but not a due sense of the
guUt of sin. It is the daily exercise of the saints of God, to consider
the great provocation that is in sin, — their sins, the sin of thefr nature
and lives; to render themselves vUe in their own hearts and thoughts
on that account; to compare it with the terror of .the Lord; and to
judge themselves continually. This they do in general.. " My sin is
ever before me," says David. They set sin before them, not to terrify
and affright their souls with it, but that a due sense of the evU of it
may be kept alive upon their hearts.
(2.) They gather up in thefr thoughts the sins for which they
have not made a particular reckoning 'with God in Christ; or if they
have begun so to do, yet they have not made clear work of it, nor
come to a clear and comfortable issue. There is nothing more dread
ful than for a man to be able to digest his convictions ; — to have sin
look him in the face, and speak perhaps some words of terror to him,
and to be able, by any charms of diversions or delays, to put it off,
without coming to a full trial as to state and condition in reference
thereunto. This the saints do: — they gather up thefr sins, lay them
in the balance of the law, see and consider their weight and desert •
and then, — i Rom. i. 17, x. 3, 4.
VOL. II. 1\<

194 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
(3.) They make this commutation I speak of with Jesus Christ ;
that is, —
[1.] They seriously consider, and by faith conquer, all objections
to the contrary, that Jesus Christ, by ihe will and appointment of
the Father, hath really undergone the punishment that was due to
those sins that lie now under his eye and consideration, Isa. lui 6 ;
2 Cor. v. 21. He hath as certainly and reaUy answered the justice of
God for them as, if he himself (the sinner) should at that instant be
cast into hell, he could do.
[2.] They hearken to the voice of Christ caUing them to him
with their burden, " Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy
laden;" — " Come with your biudens; come, thou poor soul, with thy
guilt of sin." Why? what to do? " Why, this is mine," saith Christ ;
" this agreement I made with my Father, that I should come, and
take thy sins, and bear them away: they were my lot. Give me thy
burden, give me aU thy sins. Thou knowest not what to do with
them ; I know how to dispose of them well enough, so that God
shall be glorified, and thy soul delivered." Hereupon, —
[3.] They lay down their sins at the cross of Christ, upon his
shoulders. This is faith's great and bold venture upon the grace,
faithfulness, and truth of God, to stand by the cross and say, " Ah !
he is bruised for my sins, and wounded for my transgressions, and
the chastisement of my peace is upon him. He is thus made sin
for me. Here I give up my sins to him that is able to bear them,
to undergo them. He requires it of my hands, that I should be
content that he should undertake for them; and that I heartily
consent unto." This is every day's work; I know not how any
peace can be maintained with God without it. If it be the work
of souls to receive Christ, as made sin for us, we must receive
him as one that takes our sins upon him. Not as though he died
any more, or suffered any more; but as the faith of the saints of
old made that present and done before their eyes [which had] not
yet come to pass, Heb. xi. 1, so faith now makes that present which
was accompUshed and past many generations ago. This it is to
know Christ crucified.
[4.] Having thus by faith given up thefr sins to Christ, and seen
God laying the_ all on him, they draw nigh, and take from him that
righteousness which he hath wrought out for them; so fulfilling the
whole of that of the apostle, 2 Cor. v. 21, " He was made sin for us,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." They con- ,
sider him tendering himself and his righteousness, to be their right
eousness before God; they take it, and accept of it, and complete
this blessed bartering and exchange of faith. Anger, curse, wrath,
death, sin as to its guilt, he took it all .and takes it all away. Witb

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 195
him we leave whatever of this nature belongs to us ; and from him
we receive love, life, righteousness, and peace.
Objection. But it may be said, " Surely this course of procedure
can never be acceptable to Jesus Christ. What ! shall we daily come
to him with our filth, our guilt, our sins? May he not, wUl ne not,
bid us keep them to ourselves? they are our own. Shall we be always
giving sins, and taking righteousness?"
Answer. There is not any thing that Jesus Christ is more delighted
with, than that his saints should always hold communion with him
as to this business of giving and receiving. For, —
1. This exceedingly honours him, and gives hun the glory that
is his due. Many, indeed, cry " Lord, Lord," and make mention of
him, but honour him not at all. How so? They take his work out
of his hands, and ascribe it unto other things ; their repentance, thefr
duties, shall bear their iniquities. They do not say so; but they do
so. The commutation they make, if they make any, it is with them
selves. All their bartering about sin is in and with their own souls
The work that Christ came to do in the world, was to " bear our ini
quities," and lay down his life a ransom for our sins. The cup he had
to drink of was filled with our sins, as to the punishment due to them.
What greater dishonour, then, can be done to the Lord Jesus, than
to ascribe this work to any thing else, — to think to get rid of our sins
[by] any other way or means? Herein, then, I say, is Christ honoured
indeed, when we go to him with our sins by faith, and say unto him,
" Lord, this is thy work ; this is that for which thou earnest into the
world ; this is that thou hast undertaken to do. Thou callest for my
burden, which is too heavy for me to bear ; take it, blessed Redeemer
Thou tenderest thy righteousness; that is my portion." Then is Christ
honoured, then is the glory of mediation ascribed to him, when we
walk with him in this communion.
2. This exceedingly endears the souls of the saints to him, and
constrains them to put a due valuation upon him, his love, his
righteousness, and grace. When they find, and have the daily use
of it, then they do it. Who would not love him? " I have been
with the Lord Jesus," may the poor soul say: " I have left my sins,
my burden, with him; and he hath given me his righteousness, where
with I am going with boldness to God. I was dead, and am alive;
for he died for me : I was cursed, and am blessed; for he was made
a curse for me: I was troubled, but have peace; for the chastisement
of my peace was upon him. I knew not what to do, nor whither to
cause my sorrow to go; by him have I received joy unspeakable and
glorious. If I do not love him, delight in him, obey him, live to
him, die for him, I am worse than the devils in hell." Now the great
aim of Christ in the world is, tp have a high place and esteem in the

196 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
hearts of his people ; to have there, as he hath in himself, the pre
eminence in all things, — not to be jostled up and down among other
things,— to be aU, and in aU. And thus are the saints of God pre
pared to esteem him, upon the engaging themselves to this commu
nion with him.
Obj. Yea, but you wUl say, " If this be so, what need we to repent
or amend our ways ? it is but going to Christ by faith, making this
exchange with him: and so we may sin, that grace may abound."
Ans. I judge no man's person; but this I must needs say, that I
do not understand how a man that makes this objection in cold blood,
not under a temptation or accidental darkness, can have any true or
real acquaintance with Jesus Christ: however, this I am certain of,
that this communion in itself produces quite other effects than those
supposed. For, —
1. For repentance; it is, I suppose, a gospel repentance that is
intended. For a legal, bondage repentance, full of dread, amazement,
terror, self-love, astonishment at the presence of God, I confess this
communion takes it away, prevents it, casts it out, with its bondage
and fear; but for gospel repentance, whose nature consists in godly
sorrow for sin, with its relinquishment, proceeding from faith, love,
and abhorrency of sin, on accounts pf Father, Sen, and Spirit, both
law and love, — that this should be hindered by this communion, is not
possible. I told you that the foundation of this communion is laid
in a deep, serious, daUy consideration of sin, its guUt, vileness, and
abomination, and our own vUeness on that account;- that a sense
hereof is to be kept alive in and upon the heart of every one that
wUl enjoy this communion with Christ : without it Christ is of no value
nor esteem to him. Now, is it possible that a man should daily fill
his heart with the thoughts of the vUeness of sin, on all considera
tions whatever, — of law, love, grace, gospel, life, and death, — and be
filled with self-abhorrency on this account, and yet be a stranger to
godly sorrow ? Here is the mistake, — the foundation of this com
munion is laid in that which they suppose it overthrows.
2. But what shaU we say for obedience? " If Christ be so glorified
and honoured by taking our sins, the more we bring to him, the more
wiU he be glorified." A man could not suppose that this objection
would be made, but that the Holy Ghost, who knows what is in man
and his heart, hath made it for them, and in their name, Rom. vi. 1-3.
The very same doctrine that I have insisted on being delivered, chap.
v. 18-20, the same objection is made to it: and for those who think
it may have any weight, I refer them to the answer given in that
chapter by the apostle; as also to what was said before to the neces
sity of our obedience, notwithstanding the imputation of the right
eousness of Christ.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 197
But you will say, " How should we address ourselves to the per
formance of this duty ? what path are we to walk in ?"
Faith exercises itself in it, especially three ways: —
(1.) In meditation. The heart goes over, in its own thoughts, the
part above insisted on, sometimes severally, sometimes jointly, some
times fixing primarily on one thing, sometimes on another, and some
times going over the whole. At one time, perhaps, the soul is most
upon consideration of its own sinfulness, and filling itself with shame
and self-abhorrency on that account ; sometimes it is filled with the
thoughts of the righteousness of Christ, and with joy unspeakable and
glorious on that account. EspeciaUy on great occasions, when grieved
and burdened by negligence, or eruption of corruption, then the soul
goes over the whole work, and so drives things to an issue with God,
and takes up the peace that Christ hath wrought out for him.
(2.) In considering and inquiring into the promises of the gospel,
which hold out all these things : — the exceUency, fulness, and suitable
ness of the righteousness of Christ, the rejection of all false right
eousness, and the commutation made in the love of God; which was
formerly insisted on.
(3.) In prayer. Herein do thefr souls go through this work day
by day; and this communion have all the saints with the Lord Jesus,
as to their acceptation with God : which was the first thing proposed
to consideration.

CHAPTER IX.
Of communion with Christ in holiness— The several acts ascribed unto the Lord
Christ herein: 1. His intercession; 2. Sending of the Spirit; 3. Bestows
habitual grace — What that is, and wherein it consists — This purchased by
Christ ; bestowed by him — Of actual grace — How the saints hold communion
with Christ in these things ; manifested in sundry particulars.
II. Our communion with the Lord Jesus as to that grace of sanc
tification and purification whereof we have made mention, in the
several distinctions and degrees thereof, formerly, is nextly to be con
sidered. And herein the former method must be observed; and we
must show, — 1. What are the peculiar actings of the Lord Christ as
to this communion; and, 2. What is the duty of the saints herein.
The sum is, — How we hold communion with Christ in holiness, as
well as in righteousness; and that very briefly: —
1. There are several acts ascribed unto the Lord Jesus in reference
to this particular; as, —

198 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST."
(1.) His interceding with the Father, by virtue of his oblation in
the behalf of his, that he would bestow the Holy Spirit on them.
Here I choose to enter, because of the oblation of Christ itseff I have
spoken before ; otherwise, every thing is to be run up to that head, that
source and spring. There lies the foundation of all spiritual mercies
whatever; as afterward also shall be manifested. Now the Spirit, as
unto us a Spirit of grace, holiness, and consolation, is of the pur
chase of Christ It is upon the matter, the great promise of the new
covenant, Ezek. xi. 19, "I will put a new spirit within you;" so also,
chap, xxxvi. 27 ; Jer. xxxU. 39, 40 ; and in sundry other places, whereof
afterward. Christ is the mediator and " surety of this new covenant."
Heb. vii. 22, " Jesus was made surety of a better testament," or rather
covenant ; — a testament needs no surety. He is the undertaker on
the part of God and man also : of man, to give satisfaction; of God,
to bestow the whole grace of the promise ; as chap. ix. 15, " For this
cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of
death, for the redemption of transgressions that were under the first
testament, they which are Called might receive the promise of eternal
inheritance." He both satisfied for sin and procured the promise.
He procures all the love and kindness which are the fruits of the
covenant, being himself the origmal promise thereof, Gen. in. 15;
the whole being so " ordered in all things, and made sure," 2 Sam.
xxin. 5,- that the residue of its effects should all be derived from him,
depend upon him, and be procured by him, — " that he in aU things
might have the pre-eminence," Col. i. 18; according to the compact
and agreement made with him, Isa. UiL 12. They are all the pur
chase of his blood; and therefore the Spirit also, as promised in that
covenant, 1 Cor. i. 30. Now, the whole fruit and purchase of his
death is made out from the Father upon his intercession. This (John
xiv. 16-18) he promiseth his disciples, that he wiU pursue the work
which he hath in hand in thefr behalf, and intercede with the Father
for the Spirit, as a fruit of his purchase. Therefore he teUs them
that he will not pray the Father for his love unto them, because the
eternal love of the Father is not the fruit but the fountain of his
purchase : but the Spfrit, that is a fruit ; " That," saith he, " I will pray
the Father for," etc. And what Christ asketh the Father as medi
ator to bestow on us, that is part of his purchase,1 being promised
unto him, upon his undertaking to do the will of God. And this is
the first thing that is to be considered in the Lord Jesus, as to the
communication of the Spirit of sanctification and purification, the first
thing to be considered in this our communion with him, — he inter
cedes with his Father, that he may be bestowed on us as a fruit of his
death and bloodshed in our behalf. This is the relation of the Spirit
• Ps. ii. 8; Isa. liii. 12; Ps. xl. 8-12.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 199
of holiness, as bestowed on us, unto the mediation of Christ. He is
the great foundation of the covenant of grace; being himself ever
lastingly destinated and freely given to make a purchase of all the
good things thereof. Receiving, according to promise, the Holy Ghost,
Acts ii. 33, he sheds him abroad on his own. This faith considers,
fixes on, dwells upon. For, —
(2.) His prayer being granted, as the 2 Father " hears him always/'
he actually sends his Spirit into the hearts of his saints, there to
dwell in his stead, and to do all things for them and in them which
he himself hath to do. This, secondly, is the Lord Christ by faith
to be eyed in ; and that not only in respect of the first enduing of
our hearts with his Holy Spfrit, but also of the continual supplies of
it, drawing forth and exciting more effectual "operations and actings
of that indwelling Spirit. Hence, though (John xiv. 1 6) he says the
Father will give them the Comforter, because the original and sove
reign dispensation is in his hand, and it is by him made out, upon
the intercession of Christ; yet, not being bestowed immediately on
us, but, as it were, given into the hand of Christ for us, he affirms
that (as to actual collation or bestowing) he sends him himself; chap.
xv. 26, "I will send the Comforter to you, from the Father." He
receives him from his Father, and actually sends him unto his saints.
So, chap. xvi. 7, " I wiU send him." And, verses 14, 15, he manifests
how he wUl send him. He wUl furnish him with that which is his
to bestow upon them : " He shaU take of mine (of that whieh is pro
perly and peculiarly so, — mine, as mediator, — the fruit of my life and
death unto hoUness), and give it unto you." But of these things
more afterward. This, then, is the second thing that the Lord Christ
doth, and which is to be eyed in him : — He sends his Holy Spfrit into
our hearts ; which is the 4 efficient cause of all holiness and sanctifica
tion, — quickening, enlightening, purifying the souls of his saints.
How our union with him, with all the benefit thereon depending,
floweth from this his communication of the Spfrit unto us, to abide
with us, and to dweU in us, I have at large 6 elsewhere declared;
where also this Whole matter is more fuUy opened. And this is to be
considered in him by faith, in reference to the Spirit itself.
(3.) There is that which we call habitual grace; that is, the fruits
of the Spirit; — the spirit which is born of the Spirit, John in. 6. That
which is born of, or produced by, the Holy Ghost, in the heart or
soul of a man when he is regenerate, that which makes him so, is
spirit; in opposition to "the flesh, or that enmity which is in us by
nature against God. It is faith, love, joy, hope, and the rest of the
1 Gen. iii. 15; Isa. xiii. 6, xlix. 8; Dan. ix. 24. i John xi. 42.
* " Vicariam navare operam." — Tertull., Prov. i. 23.
1 Titus iii. 6, 6. 5 Saints' Perseverance, chap. viii. vol. xi. c Gal. v. 17..

200 .OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
graces of the gospel, in their root or common principle, concerning
which these two things are to be observed : —
[1.] That though many particular graces are mentioned, yet there
are not different habits or qualities in us, — not several or distinct
principles to answer them; but only the same 1habit or spiritual
principle putting forth itself in various operations or ways of work
ing, according to the variety of the objects which it goeth forth unto,
is their common principle : so that it is called . and distinguished,
as above, rather in respect of actual exercise, with relation to its ob
jects, than habitual inherence; it being one root which hath these
many branches.
[2.] This is that which I intend by this habit of grace, — a znew,
gracious, spiritual 'life, or principle, ^created, and ^bestowed on
the soul, whereby it is "changed in all its faculties and affections,
fitted and enabled to go forth in the way of obedience unto every,
divine object that is proposed unto it, according to the mind of God.
For instance, the mind can discern of 'spiritual things in a spiritual
manner; and therein it is light, illumination. The whole soul closeth
with Christ, as held forth in the promises of the gospel for righteous
ness and salvation : \h&t is faith; which being the main and principal
work of it, it often gives denomination unto the whole. So when it
rests in God, in Christ, with delight, desire, and complacency, it is
called love; being, indeed, the principle suiting aU the faculties of oui
souls for spiritual and living operations, according to thefr natural
use. Now it differs, —
1st. From the Spirit dwelling in the saints; for it is a created
quality. The Spfrit dweUs in us as a free agent in a holy habitation.
This grace, as a quaUty, remains in us, as in its own proper subject,
that hath not any subsistence but therein, and is capable of being
intended8 or restrained under great variety of degrees.
2dly. From actual grace, which is transient; this making its resi
dence in the soul. s Actual grace is an illapse of divine influence
and assistance, working in and by the soul any spiritual act or
duty whatsoever, without any pre-existence unto that act or con
tinuance after it, " God working in us, both to wUl and to do." But
this habitual grace is always resident in us, causing the soul to be a
1 2 Cor. v. 17.
2 Cor. v. 17; Ezek. xi. 19, xviii. 31, xxxvi. 26; Gal. vi. 15; Eph. ii. 15, iv. 24;
Col. iii. 10; I Pet. ii. 2; John iii. 6.
3 Col. iii. 3, 4; Eph. ii. 1, 5; Rom. viii. 11; John v. 21, vi. 63.
* Ps. li. JO; Eph ii. 10, iv. 24; Col. iii. 10; 2 Cor. v. 17.
5 2 Cor. iii. 5, iv. 6; Acts v. 31; Luke i. 79; John iv. 14, iii. 27; 1 Cor. ii. 12;
Eph. iv. 7; Phil. i. 29.
8 Acts xxvi. 18; Eph. v. 8; 2 Cor. v. 17; John v. 24.
7 1 Cor. ii. 12; Eph. i. 18; 2 Cor. iii. 18, iv. 6.
" Intended is here used in a sense now obsolete, — stretched, increased. — En,
» 2 Cor. iii. 5; Ps. cxix. 36; Phil. ii. 13.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 201
meet principle for all those holy and spiritual operations which by
actual grace are to be performed. And, —
3dly. It is capable of augmentation and diminution, as was said.
In some it is more large and more effectual than in others ; yea, in
some persons, more at one time than another. Hence are those
dyings, decays,' ruins, recoveries, complaints, and rejoicings, whereof
so frequent mention is made in the Scripture.
These things being premised as to the nature of it, let us now
consider what we are to eye in the Lord Jesus in reference there
unto, to make an entrance into our communion with him therein,
as things by him or on his part performed : —
As I said of the Spfrit, so, in the first place, I say of this, it
is of the purchase of Christ, and is so to be looked on. "It is
given unto us for 2his sake to beUeve on him," PhU. i. 29. The
Lord, on the behalf of Christ, for his sake, because it Ls purchased
and procured by him for us, bestows faith, and (by same rule) all
grace upon us. "We are blessed with aU spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in him," Eph. L 3. " In him;"3 that is, in and through
his mediation for us. His oblation and intercession lie at the bottom
of this dispensation. Were not grace by them procured, it would
never by any one soul be enjoyed. All grace is from this fountain.
In our receiving it from Christ, we must stiU consider what it 4cost
him. Want of this weakens faith in its proper workings. His whole
intercession is founded on his oblation, 1 John ii. 1, 2. What he
purchased by his death, that — nor more nor less, as hath been often
said — he intercedeth may be bestowed. And he prays that aU his
saints may have this grace whereof we speak, John xviL 1 7. Did
we continually consider aU grace as the fruit of the purchase of Christ,
it would be an exceeding endearment on our spirits: nor can we
without this cpnsideratioh, according to the tenor of the gospel, ask
or expect any grace. It is no prejudice to the free grace of the
Father, to look on any thing as the purchase of the Son; it was from
that grace that he made that purchase: and in the receiving of grace
from God, we have not communion with Christ, who is yet the trea
sury and storehouse of it, unless we look upon it as his purchase. He
hath obtained that we should be 6 sanctified throughout, have life in
us, be humble, holy, believing, dividing the spoil with the mighty,
by destroying the works of the devU in us.
Secondly. The Lord Christ doth actually communicate this grace
unto his saints, and bestows it on them : " Of his fulness have all we
received, and grace for grace," John i 16. For, —
1 Cant. v. 2; Rev. ii. 5, iii. 2, 3, 17, 19; Hos. xiv. 4; Ps. li., etc. ,
* 'r*-it X{«rro£. » 1 John ii. 1, 2. 4 Rom. viii. 32.
* Eph. v. 25-27; Tit. ii. 14; Rom. vi. 4.

202 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
(1st) The Father actually invests him with all the grace whereof,
by compact and agreement, he hath made a purchase (as he received
the promise of the Spirit) ; which is all that is of use for the bringing
his many sons to glory. " It pleased the Father that in him should.
all fulness dwell," Col. i. 19, — that he should be invested with a fulness
of that grace which is needful for his people. This himself calls the
" power of giving eternal Ufe to his elect," John xvii. 2 ; which power
is not only his ability to do it, but also his right to do it. Hence
this delivering of all things unto him by his Father, he lays as the
bottom of his inviting sinners unto him for refreshment : " All things
are delivered unto me of my Father," Matt. xi. 27. " Come unto
me, all that labour and are heavy laden, and I wUl give you rest,"
verse 28. This being the covenant of the Father with him, and his
promise unto him, that upon the making " his soul an offering for
sin, he should see his seed, and the pleasure of the Lord should
prosper in his hand," Isa. 1UL 10, in the verses fellpwing, the "peur-
ing put of his spul unto death, and bearing the sins of many,"
is laid as the bottom and procuring cause of these things:- — 1. Of
justification: " By his knowledge he shall justify many." 2. Of sanc
tification; in " destroying the works of the devil," verses 11, 12.
Thus comes our merciful high priest to be the great possessor of all
grace, that he may give out to us according to his own pleasure,
quickening whom he will. He hath it in him really as our head,
in that he received not that Spirit by measure (John iii. 34) which is
the bond of union between him and us, 1 Cor. vi. 1 7 ; whereby hold
ing him, the head, we are filled with his fulness, Eph. i. 22, 23 ; Col.
i. 19. He hath it as a common person, intrusted with it in our
behalf, Rom. v. 14-17. " The last Adam is made" unto us " a quick
ening Spfrit," 1 Cor. xv. 45. He is also a treasury of this grace in a
moral and law sense : not only as " it pleased the Father that in
him should all fulness dwell," Col. i 19 ; but also because in his me
diation, as hath been declared, is founded the whole dispensation of
grace. (2dly.) Being thus actuaUy vested with this power, and privUege,
and fulness, he designs the Spfrit to take of this fulness, and to give
it unto us: " He shall take of mine, and shaU show it unto you," John
xvi. 15. The Spirit takes of that fulness that is -in Christ, and in the
name of the Lord Jesus bestows it actuaUy on them for whose sancti
fication he is sent. Concerning the manner and almighty efficacy of
the Spirit of grace whereby this is done (I mean this actual collation
of grace upon his peculiar ones), more will be spoken afterward.
(3dly.) For actual grace, or that influence or power whereby the
saints are enabled to perform particular duties according to the mind
of God, there is not any need of farther enlargement about it. What

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 203
concerns our communion with the Lord Christ therein, holds propor
tion with what was spoken before.
There remaineth only one thing more to be observed concerning
those things whereof mention hath been made, and I proceed to the
way whereby we carry on communion with the Lord Jesus in aU
these ; and that is, that these things may be considered two ways : —
1. In respect of their first collation, or bestowing on the soul. 2. In
respect of thefr continuance and increase, as unto the degrees of
them. In the first sense, as to the real communicating of the Spfrit ef
grace untc the soul, so raising it from death unto life, the saints have
no kind of communion with Christ therein but only what consists in
a passive reception of that life-giving, quickening Spirit and power.
They are but as the dead bones in the prophet; the wind blows on
them, and they live ; — as Lazarus in the grave ; Christ calls, and they
come forth, the call being accompanied with life and power. This,
then, is not that whereof particularly I speak ; but it is the second, in
respect of farther efficacy of the Spirit and increase of grace, both
habitual and actual, whereby we become more holy, and to be more
powerful in walking with God, — have more fruit in obedience and
success against temptations. And in this, —
2. They hold communion with the Lord Christ. And wherein
and how they do it, shall now be declared.
They continually eye the Lord Jesus as the great Joseph, that hath
the disposal of all the granaries of the kingdom of heaven committed
unto him ; as one in whom it hath pleased the Father to gather all
things unto a head, Eph. i 10, that from him aU things might be
dispensed unto them. All treasures, all fulness, the Spirit not by
measure, are in him. And this fulness in this Joseph, in reference
to their condition, they eye in these three particulars : —
(1.) In the preparation unto the dispensation mentioned, in the
expiating, purging, purifying efficacy of his blood. It was a sacrifice
not only of atonement, as offered, but also of purification, as poured
out. This the apostle eminently sets forth, Heb. ix. 13, 14, " For if
the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling
the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh : how much more
shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spfrit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God?" This blood of his is that which answers
p
aU typical institutions for carnal purification; and therefore hath a
spiritually-purifying, cleansing, sanctifying virtue in itseff, as offered
and poured out. Hence it is called, " A fountain for sin and for
uncleanness," Zech. xiii. 1; that is, for their washing and taking away;
— •' A fountain opened;" ready prepared, virtuous, efficacious in itself,

204 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
before any be put into it; because poured out, instituted, appointed
to that purpose. The saints see that in themselves they are still
exceedingly defiled ; and, indeed, to have a sight of the defilements of
sin is a more spiritual discovery than to have only a sense of the
guUt of sin. This follows every conviction, and is commensurate unto
it; that, usually only such as reveal the purity and holiness of God
and all his ways. Hereupon they ciy with shame, within themselves,
" Unclean, unclean," — unclean in thefr natures, unclean in thefr per
sons, unclean in their conversations; all roUed in the x blood of their
defilements; thefr hearts by nature a very sink, and thefr lives a
dunghill. They know, also, that no unclean thing shall enter into
the kingdom of God, or have place in the new Jerusalem; that God
is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. They cannot endure to look
on themselves ; and how shall they dare to appear in his presence ?
What remedies shaU they now use? " Though they wash themselves
with nitre, and take them much soap, yet their iniquity will continue
marked," Jer. ii. 22. Wherewith, then, shall they come before the
Lord ? For the removal of this, I say, they look, in the first place, to"
the purifying virtue of the blood of Christ, which is able to cleanse
them from aU their sins, 1 John i. 7; being the spring from whence
floweth all the purifying virtue, which in the issue wfll take away
aU their spots and stains, " make them holy and without blemish.
and in the end present them glorious unto himself," Eph. v. 26, 27.
This they dwell upon with thoughts of faith; they roU it in their
minds and spirits. Here faith obtains new life, new vigour, when a
sense of vUeness hath even overwhelmed it. Here is a fountain
opened : draw nigh, and see its beauty, purity, and efficacy. Here is
a foundation laid of that work whose accomplishment we long for.
One moment's communion with Christ by faith herein is more effec
tual to the purging of the soul, to the increasing of grace, than the
utmost self-endeavours of a thousand ages.
(2.) They eye the blood of Christ as the Hood of sprinkling.
Coming to " Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant," they come to
the 2 " blood of sprinkling," Heb. xu. 24. The eyeing of the blood
of Christ as shed wUl not of itself take away pollution. There is not
only alftarexxveia, — a " shedding of blood," without which there is no
remission, Heb. ix. 22 ; but there is also aiparog pavrie/jiog, — a " sprink
ling of blood," without which there is no actual purification. This
the apostle largely describes, Heb. ix. 19, " When Moses," saith he,
" had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law,
he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool,
and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people, saying,
1 Ezek. xvi. 4, 6, etc.; John iii. 3, 5; nSv »«»», Rev. xxi. 27; Hab. i. 13.
* AT/tx pxvrttftov.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 205
This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto
you. Moreover he sprinkled likewise with blood both the tabernacle,
and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by
the law purged with blood. It was therefore necessary that the pat
terns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the
heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these," verses
19-23. He had formerly compared the blood of Christ to the blood
of sacrifices, as offered, in respect of the impetration and the purchase
it made ; now he doth it unto that blood as sprinkled, in respect of
its application unto purification and holiness. And he tells us how
this sprinkling was performed: it was by dipping hyssop in the blood
of the sacrifice, and so dashing it out upon the things and persons to
be purified ; as the institution also was with the paschal lamb, Exod.
xu. 7. Hence, David, in a sense of the pollution of sin, prays that
he may be " purged with hyssop," Ps. li. 7. For that this peculiarly
respected the uncleanness and defilement of sin, is evident, because
there is no mention made, in the institution of any sacrifice (after that
of the lamb before mentioned), of sprinkling blood with hyssop, but
only in those which respected purification of uncleanness; as in the
case of leprosy, Lev. xiv. 6; and all other defilements, Numb. xix. 18, :
which latter, indeed, is not of blood, but of the water of separation ;
this also being eminently typical of the blood of Christ, which is the
fountain for separation for uncleanness, Zech. xiii. 1. Now, this bunch
of hyssop, wherein the blood of purification was prepared for the
sprinkling of the unclean, is (unto us)- the free promises of Christ
The cleansing virtue of the blood of Christ lies in the promises, as
the blood of sacrifices in the hyssop, ready to pass out unto them that
draw nigh thereunto. Therefore the apostle argueth from receiving
of the promise unto universal holiness and purity: " Having there
fore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spfrit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God,"
2 Cor. vU. 1. This, then, the saints do: — they eye the blood of Christ
as it is in the promise, ready to issue out upon the soul, for the puri
fication thereof, and thence is purging and cleansing virtue to be
communicated unto them, and by the blood of Christ are they to be
purged from all their sins, 1 John i. 7. Thus far, as it were, this puri
fying blood, thus prepared and made ready, is at some distance to the
souL Though it be shed to this purpose, that it might purge, cleanse,
and sanctify, though it be taken up with the bunch of hyssop in the
promises, yet the soul may not partake of it. Wherefore, —
(3.) They look upon him as, in his own Spirit, he is the only dispen
ser of the Spirit and of all grace of sanctification and hoUness. They
consider that upon his intercession it is granted to him that he shaU
inake effectual all the fruits of his purchase, to the sanctification, the

206 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
purifying and making glorious in holiness, of his whole people. They
know that this is actually to be accomplished by the Spfrit, accord
ing to the innumerable promises given to that purpose. He is to
sprinkle that blood upon their souls; he is to create the hoUness in
them that they long after; he is tb be .himself in them a well of
water springing up to everlasting life. In this state they look to
Jesus : here faith fixes itself, in expectation of his giving out the Spirit
for aU these ends and purposes; mixing the promises with faith,, and
so becoming actual partaker of all this grace. This is their way, this
their communion with Christ ; this is the life of faith, as to grace and
holiness. Blessed is the soul that is . exercised therein : " He shall
be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots
by the river, and shaU not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall
be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shah
cease from yielding fruit," Jer. xvU. 8. Convinced persons who know
not Christ, nor the fellowship of his sufferings, would spin a holiness
out of their own bowels ; they would work it out in their own strength.
They begin it with1 trying endeavours ; and foUow it with vows, duties,
resolutions, engagements, sweating at it all the day long. Thus they
continue for a season, — their hypocrisy, for the most part, ending in '
apostasy. The saints of God do, in the very entrance of their walk
ing with him, reckon upon it that they have a threefold want: —
[1.] Of the Spirit of holiness to dwell in them. [2.] Of a habit
of holiness to be infused into them. [3.] Of actual assistance to
work aU their works for them; and that if these should continue
to be wanting, they can never, with all their might, power, and
endeavours, .perform any one act of holiness before the Lord. They
know that of themselves they have no sufficiency, — that2 without
Christ they can do nothing: therefore they look to him, who is
intrusted with a fulness of all these in their behalf; and thereupon
by faith derive from him an increase of that whereof they stand
in need. Thus, I say, have the saints communion with Christ,
as to their sanctification and hoUness. From him do they re
ceive the Spirit to dwell in them; from him the new principle of
life, which is the root of all their obedience; from him have they
actual assistance for every duty they are caUed unto. In waiting for,
expectation and receiving of these blessings, on 'the accounts before
mentioned, do they spend their lives and time with him. In vain is
help looked for from other mountains; in vain do men spend their
strength in foUowing after righteousness, if this be wanting. . Fix thy
soul here ; thou shalt not tarry untU thou be ashamed. This is the
way, the only way, to obtain full, effectual manifestations of the
Spirit's dwelling in us; to have our hearts purified, our consciences
1 Rom. x. 1-4. ! John xv. 5.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 207
purged, our sins mortified, our graces increased, our souls made hum
ble, holy, zealous, believing, — Uke to him ; to have our lives fruit
ful, our deaths comfortable. Let us herein abide, eyeing Christ by
faith, to attain that measure of conformity to him which is allotted
unto us in this world, that when we shall see him as he is, We may be
like unto him.

CHAPTER X.
Of communion with Christ in privileges — Of adoption ; the nature of it, the con
sequences of it — Peculiar privileges attending it ; liberty, title, boldness, afflic
tion — Communion with Christ hereby.
III. The third thing wherein we have communion with Christ, is
grace of privilege before God ; I mean, as the third head of purchased
grace. The privileges we enjoy by Christ are great and innumerable ;
to insist on them in particular were work for a man's whole life, not a
design to be wrapped up in a few sheets. I shall take a view of them
only in the head, the spring and fountain whence they all arise and
flow" — this is our adoption : " Beloved, now are we the sons of God,"
1 John iii. 2. This is our great and fountain privilege. Whence is it
that we are so? It is from the love of the Father. Verse 1, " Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should
be called the sons of God !" But by whom immediately do we re
ceive this honour ? As many as believe on Christ, he gives them this
power, to become the sons of God, John L 12. Himself was appointed
to be the first-born among many brethren, Rom. viii. 29 ; and his
taking us to be brethren, Heb. ii. 11, makes us become the children
of God. Now, that God is our Father, by being the Father of Christ,
and we his children by being the brethren of Christ, being the head
and sum of all the honour, privUege, right, and title we have, let us
a Uttle consider the nature of that act whereby we are invested with
this state and title, — namely, our adoption.
Now, adoption is the authoritative translation of a believer, by
Jesus Christ, from ihe family of the world and Satan into ihe
family of God, with his investiture in all the privileges and advan
tages of that family.
To the complete adoption of any person, these- five things are
required: —
1. That he be actually, and of his own right, of another family
than that whereinto he is adopted. He must.be the son of one
family or other, in his own right, as all persons are.

208 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
2. That there be a family unto which of himself he hath no right,
wnereinto he is to be toTafted. If a man comes into a family upon a
personal right, though originaUy at never so great' a distance, that
man is not adopted. If a man of a most remote consanguinity do
come into the inheritance of any family by the death of the nearer
heirs, though his right before were Uttle better than nothing, yet he
is a born son of that family, — he is not adopted. [In adoption] he
is not to have the plea of the most remote possibility of succession
3. That there be an authoritative, legal translation of him, by
some that have power thereinto, from one famuy into another. It
was not, by the law of old, in the power of particular persons to adopt
when and whom they would. It was to be done by the authority of
the sovereign power.
4. That the adopted person be freed from all the obligations that
be upon him unto the family from whence he is translated ; otherwise
he can be no way useful or serviceable unto the family whereinto he
is ingrafted. He cannot serve two masters, much less two fathers.
5. That, by virtue of his adoption, he be invested in aU the rights,
privileges, advantages, and title to the whole inheritance, of the
family into which he is adopted, in as fuU and ample manner as if
he had been born a son therein.
Now, all these things and circumstances do concur and are found
in the adoption of believers: —
1. They are, by their own original right, of another famUy than
that whereinto they are adopted. They are " by nature the children
of wrath," Eph. ii. 3, — sons of wrath, — of that family whose inherit
ance is "wrath,"- — called "the power of darkness," Col. i. 13; for
from thence doth God " translate them into the kingdom of his dear
Son." This is the family of the world and of Satan, of which by na
ture believers are. Whatever is to be inherited in that family, — as
wrath, curse, d'eath, hell, — they have a right thereunto. Neither can
they of themselves, or by themselves, get free of this famUy : a strong
man armed keeps them in subjection. Thefr natural estate is a famuy
condition, attended with all the circumstances of a famUy, — family
duties and services, rights and titles, relations and observances. They
are of the black family of sin and Satan.
2. There is another family whereinto they are to be translated,
and whereunto of themselves they have neither right nor title. This
is that family in heaven and earth which is caUed after the name of
Christ, Eph. iii. 15, — the great famUy of God. God hath a1 house
and family for his children ; of whom some he maintains on the riches
of his grace, and some he entertains with the fulness of his glory. This
is that house whereof the Lord Christ is the great dispenser, it having
1 Hab. iii. 6.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 209
pleased the Father to " gather together in one all things in him, both
which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him," Eph. i. 10.
Herein live all the sons and daughters of God, spending largely on
the riches of his grace. Unto this family of themselves they have no
right nor title; they are wholly alienated from it, Eph. U. 12, and can
lay no claim to any thing in it. God driving fallen Adam out of the
garden, and shutting up all ways of return with a flaming sword,
ready to cut him off if he should attempt it, abundantly declares that
he, and all in him, had lost all right; of approaching unto God in
any family relation. Corrupted, cursed nature is not vested with the
least right to any thing of God. Therefore, —
3. They have an authoritative translation from one of these fa
milies to another. , It is not done in & private, underhand way, but in
the way of authority. John i. 12, " As many as received him, to them
gave he power to become the sons of God," — power or authority.
This investing them with the power, exceUency, and right of the
sons of God, is a forensical act, and hath a legal proceeding in it.
It is caUed the " making us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in Ught," Col. i 12; — a judicial exalting us into mem
bership in that famUy, where God is the Father, Christ the1 elder
brother, all saints and angels brethren and feUow-children, and the
inheritance a crown immortal and incorruptible, that fades not away.
Now, this authoritative translation of believers from one famUy into
another consisteth of these two parts : —
(1.) An effectual proclamation and declaration of such a person's
immunity from aU obUgations to the former famUy, to which by na
ture he was related. And this declaration hath a threefold object: —
[1.] Angels. It is declared unto them; they are the sons of God.
They are the3 sons of God, and so of the family whereinto the adopted
person is to be admitted ; and therefore it concerns them to know who
are invested with the rights of that famUy, that they may discharge
thefr duty towards them. Unto them, then, it is declared that be
lievers are freed from the family of sin and hell, to become fellow-sons
and servants with them. And this is done two ways :' —
1st. Generally, by the doctrine of the gospel. Eph. Ui 10, " Unto
the principaUties and powers in heavenly places is made known by
the church the manifold wisdom of God."
By the church is this wisdom made known to the angels, either as
the doctrine of the gospel is delivered unto it, or as it is gathered
thereby. And what is this wisdom of God that is thus made known
to principalities and powers? It is, that "the GentUes should be feUow-
heirs and of the same body with us," verse 6. The mystery of adopt
ing sinners of the Gentiles, taking them from thefr slavery in the
» Rom. viii. 29; Heb. ii. 12. ' Job i. 6, xxxviii. 7; Heb. xii. 22-24; Rev. xxii. 9.
VOL. II.

210 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
famUy of the world, that they might have a right of heirship, becom
ing sons in the famUy of God, is this wisdom, thus made known. And
how was it primitively made known? It was " revealed by the Spirit
unto the prophets and apostles," verse 5.
2dly. In particular, by immediate revelation. When any parti
cular soul is freed from the famUy of this world, it is revealed to the
angels. " There is joy in the presence of the angels of God" (that is,
among the angels, and by them) " over one sinner that repenteth,"
Luke xv. 10. Now, the angels cannot of themselves absolutely know
the true repentance of a sinner in itself; it is a work wrought in that
cabinet which none hath a key unto but Jesus Christ; by him it is
revealed to the angels, when the peculiar care and charge of such a
one is committed to them. These things have their transaction before
the angels, Luke xii. 8, 9. Christ owns the names of his brethren
before the angels, Rev. Ui. 5. When he gives them admittance into
the famUy where they are, Heb. xU. 22, he declares to them that
they are sons, that they may discharge thefr duty towards them,
Heb. i. 14.
[2.] It is denounced in a judicial way unto Satan, the great master
of the family whereunto they were in subjection. When the Lord
Christ dehvers a soul from under the power of that strong armed one,
he binds him, — ties him from the exercise of that power and dominion
which before he had over him. And by this means doth he know that
such a one is deUvered from his famUy; and aU his future attempts
upon him are encroachings upon the possession and inheritance of the
Lord Christ.
[3.] Unto the conscience of the person adopted. The Spirit of
Christ testifies to the heart and conscience of a believer that he is
freed from all engagements unto the famUy of Satan, and is become
the son of God, Rom. viii. 14, 15 ; and enables him to cry, " Abba,
Father," Gal. iv. 6. Of the particulars of this testification of the Spirit,
and of its absolving the soul from its old aUiance, I shall speak after
ward. And herein consists the first thing mentioned.
(2.) There is an authoritative ingrafting of a believer actuaUy into
the family of God, and investing him with the whole right of sonship.
Now this, as unto us, hath sundry acts : —
[1.] The giving a believer a new name in a white stone, Rev. ii. 17.
They that are adopted are to take new names; they change their
names they had in their old families, to take the names of the famihes
whereinto they are translated. This new name is, " A child of God."
That is the hew name given in adoption; and no man knoweth what
is in that name, but only he that doth receive it. And this new name
is given and written in a white stone ; — that is the tessera of our ad
mission into the house of God. It is a stone of judicial acquitment

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 211
Our adoption by the Spirit is bottomed on our absolution in the blood
of Jesus; and therefore is the new name in the white stone privi
lege grounded on discharge. The white stone quits the claim of the
old famUy; the new name gives entrance to the other.
[2.] An enrolling of his name in the catalogue of the household of
God, admitting him thereby into feUowship therein. This is called
the " writing of the house of Israel," Ezek. xUi. 9 ; that is, the roll
wherein all the names of the Israel, the family of God, are written.
God hath a catalogue of his household; Christ knows his sheep by
name. When God writeth up the people, he counts that " this man
was born in Zion," Ps. lxxxvU. 6. This is an extract of the Lamb's
book of Ufe.
[3.] Testifying to his conscience his acceptation with God, enabling
him to behave himself as a chUd, Rom. viU. 15; Gal. iv. 5, 6.
4. The two last things requfred to adoption are, that the adopted
person be freed from aU obligations to the family from whence he is
translated, and invested with the rights and privileges of that where
into he is translated. Now, because these two comprise the whole
issue of adoption, wherein the saints have communion with Christ, I
shall handle them together, referring the concernments of them unto
these four heads: — (1.) Liberty. (2.) Title, or right. (3.) Boldness.
(4.) Correction These aie the four things, in reference to the family
of the adopted person, that he doth receive by his adoption, wherein
he holds communion with the Lord Jesus: —
(1.) Liberty. The Spirit of the Lord, that was upon the Lord Jesus,
did anoint him to proclaim liberty to the captives, Isa. lxi. 1 ; and
" where the Spirit of the Lord is" (that is, the Spirit of Christ, given
to us by him because we are sons), " there is liberty," 2 Cor. Ui. 17.
All spiritual liberty is from the Spfrit of adoption; whatever else is
pretended, is licentiousness. So the apostle argues, Gal. iv. 6, 7, " He
hath sent forth his Spirit into thefr hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Wherefore ye are no more servants," — no more in bondage, but have
the liberty of sons. And this liberty respects, — ¦
[1.] In the first place, the famUy from whence the adopted person
is translated. It is his setting free from all the obligations of that
famUy. Now, in this sense, the liberty which the saints have by
adoption is either from that which is real or that which is pre
tended: —
1st. That which is real respects a twofold issue of law and sin. The
moral, unchangeable law of God, and sin, being in conjunction, meeting
¦with reference to any persons, hath, and hath had, a twofold issue : —
(1st) An economical institution of a new law of ordinances, keep
ing in bondage those to whom it was given, Col. u. 14.
(2c%.) A natural (if I may so caU it) pressing of those persons

212 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
with its power and efficacy agamst sin; whereof there are these
parts : —
[1st] Its rigour and terror in commanding.
[2c%.] Its impossibility for accomplishment, and so insufficiency
for its primitively appeinted end.
[3<%.] The issues of its transgression; which are referred unto two
heads: — 1. Curse. 2. Death. I shall speak very briefly of these,
because they are commonly handled, and granted by all.
2dly. That which is pretended, is the power of any whatever over
the conscience, when once made free by Christ : —
(1st.) Believers are freed from the instituted law of ordinances,
which, upon the testimony of the apostles, was a yoke which neither
we nor our fathers (in the faith) could' bear, Acts xv. 10; wherefore
Christ " blotted out this hand- writing of ordinances that was against
them, which was contrary to them, and took it out of the way, nailing
it to his cross," Col. U. 14: and thereupon the apostle, after a long
dispute concerning the Uberty that we have from that law, concludes
with this instruction : Gal. v. 1, " Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free."
(2dly.) In reference to the moral law: —
[1st] The first thing we have liberty from, is its rigour and terror
in commanding. Heb. xU. 18-22, " We are not come to the mount
that might be touched, and that burned with fire, to the whirlwind,
darkness, and tempest, to the sound of the trumpet, and the voice of
words, which they that heard besought that they might hear it no
more ; but we are come to mount Sion," etc. As to that administra
tion of the law wherein it was given out with dread and terror, and
so exacted its obedience with rigour, we are freed from it, we are not
called to that estate.
[2a7y.] Its impossibility of accomplishment, and so insufficiency
for its primitive end, by reason of sin ; or, we are freed from the law
as the instrument of righteousness, since, by the impossibUity of its
fulfilling as to us, it is become insufficient for any such purpose, Rom.
vUi. 2, 3 ; Gal. iii. 21-23. There being an impossibility of obtaining
life by the law, we are exempted from it as to any such end, and
that by the righteousness of Christ, Rom. viii. 3.
[3a7y.] From the issue of its transgression: —
First. Curse. There is a solemn curse inwrapping the whole wrath
annexed to the law, with reference to the transgression thereof; and
from this are we wholly at liberty. Gal. iu. 13, " Christ hath re
deemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us."
Secondly. Death, Heb. U 15; and therewith from Satan, Heb. ii
14, CoL L 13; and sin, Rom. vL 14, 1 Pet. i. 18; with the world,
Gal. L 4; with aU the attendancies, advantages, and claims of them

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 213
all, Gal. iv. 3-5, Col. ii. 20 ; without which we could not live one
day. That which is pretended and claimed by some (wherein in deed and
in truth we were never in bondage, but are hereby eminently set free),
is the power of binding conscience by any laws and constitutions not
from God, Col. ii. 20-22.
[2.] [In the second place,] there is a liberty in the family of God,
as well as a liberty from the family of Satan. Sons are free. Their
obedience is a free obedience ; they have the Spirit of the Lord : and
where he is, there is liberty, 2 Cor. Ui. 17. As a Spirit of adoption,
he is opposed to the spirit of bondage, Rom. viii. 15. Now, this
liberty of our Father's family, which we have as sons and children,
being adopted by Christ through the Spirit, is a spiritual largeness
of heart, whereby the children of God do freely, willingly, genuinely,
without fear, terror, bondage^ and constraint, go forth unto all holy
obedience in Christ.
I say, this is our liberty in our Father's family : what we have
liberty from, hath been already declared.
There are Gibeonites outwardly attending the famUy of God, that
do the service of his house as the drudgery of their Uves. The prin
ciple they yield obedience upon, is a spirit of bondage unto fear,
Rom. viii. 15 ; the rule they do it by, is the law in its dread and rigour,
exacting it of them to the utmost, without mercy and mitigation ;
the end they do it for, is to fly from the wrath to come, to pacify
conscience, and seek righteousness as it were by the works of the law.
Thus servilely, painfully, fruitlessly, they seek to serve their own con
viction all thefr days.
The saints by adoption have a largeness of heart in all holy obedi
ence. Saith David, " I will walk at liberty, for I seek thy precepts,"
Ps. cxix. 45; Isa. lxi. 1; Luke iv. 18; Rom. viii. 2, 21; Gal. iv. 7,
v. 1, 13; James i. 25; John vui. 32, 33, 36; Rom. vi 18; 1 Pet.
U. 16. Now, this amplitude, or son-Uke freedom of the Spirit in
obedience, consists in sundry things: —
1st. In the principles of all spiritual service ; which are life and
love; — the one respecting the matter of their obedience, giving them
power; the other respecting the manner of thefr obedience, giving
them joy and sweetness in it : —
(1st) It is from life; that gives them power as to the matter of
obedience. Rom. viii. 2, " The law of the Spfrit of life in Christ Jesus
sets them free from the law of sin and death." It frees them, it
carries them out to all obedience freely; so that "they walk after
the Spirit," verse 1, that being the principle of their workings. Gal.
U. 20, " Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I now live in the flesh,
I live by the faith of the Son of God ;" — " The Ufe which I now live in

214 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
the flesh (that is, the obedience which I yield unto God whUst I am
in the flesh), it is from a principle of Ufe, Christ living in me. There
is, then, power for all Uving unto God, from Christ in them, the Spirit
of life from Christ carrying them out thereto. The fruits of a dead
root are but dead excrescences ; living acts are from a principle of life.
Hence you may see the difference between the Uberty that slaves
assume, and the liberty which is due to chUdren: —
[1st] Slaves take liberty from duty ; children have liberty in
duty. There is not a greater mistake in the world, than that the
liberty of sons in the house of God consists in this, — they can perform
duties, or take the freedom to omit them ; they can serve in the
family of God (that is, they think they may if they wiU), and they
can choose whether they, wUl or no. This is a liberty stolen by slaves,
not a liberty given by the Spirit unto sons.
The liberty of sons is in the inward spiritual freedom of their
hearts, naturally and kindly going out in all the ways and worship
of God. When they find themselves straitened and shut up in them,
they wrestle with God for enlargement, and are never contented with
the doing of a duty, unless it be done as in Christ, with free, genuine,
and enlarged hearts. The Uberty' that servants have is from duty;
the liberty given to sons is in duty.
[2dly.] The liberty of slaves or servants is from mistaken, deceiv
ing conclusions; the Uberty of sons is from the power of the indwell
ing Spfrit of grace : or, the Uberty of servants is from outward, dead
conclusions ; the liberty of sons, from an inward, living principle.
(2dly.) Love, as to the manner of thefr obedience, gives them de
light and joy. John xiv. 15, " If ye love me," says Christ, " keep my
commandments." Love is the bottom of all thefr duties ; hence our
Saviour resolves ah obedience into the love of God and our neigh
bour; and Paul, upon the same ground, teUs us " that love is the ful
filling of the law," Rom. xuL 10. Where love is in any duty, it is
complete in Christ. How often doth David, even with admiration,
express this principle of his walking with God! " 0," saith he, " how
I love thy commandments ! " This gives saints dehght, that the com
mandments of Christ are not grievous to them. Jacob's hard service
was not grievous to him, because of his love to Rachel. No duty of
a saint is grievous to him, because of his love to Christ. They do
from hence all things with delight and complacency. Hence do they
long for advantages of walking with God, — pant after more abUity;
and this is a great share of their son-like freedom in obedience. It
gives them joy in it. 1 John iv. 18, " There is no fear in love; but
perfect love casteth out fear." When their soul is acted to obedience
by love, it expels that fear which is the issue of bondage upon the
spirit. Now; when there is a concurrence of these two (life and love),

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 215
there is freedom, liberty, largeness ef heart, exceedingly distanced
from that strait and bondaged frame which many walk in all their
days, that know not the adoption of sons.
2dly. The object of thefr obedience is represented to them as de
sirable, whereas to others it is terrible. In all their approaches to
God, they eye him as a Father; they call him Father, Gal. iv. 6, not
in the form of words, but in the spirit of sons. God in Christ is con
tinually before them ; not only as one deserving all the honours and
obedience which he requires, but also as one exceedingly to be de
lighted in, as being all-sufficient to satisfy and satiate all the desires
of the soul. When others napkin their talents, as having to deal with
an austere master, they draw out thefr strength to the uttermost, as
drawing nigh to a gracious rewarder. They go, from the principle of
life and love, to the bosom of a Uving and loving Father ; they do but
return the strength they do receive unto the fountain, unto the ocean.
3dly. Their motive unto obedience is love, 2 Cor. v. 14. From an
apprehension of love, they are effectually carried out by love to give-
up themselves unto him who is love. What a freedom is this ! what
a largeness of spirit is in them whp walk according to this rule!
Darkness, fear, bondage, conviction, hopes of righteousness, accompany
others in thefr ways; the sons, by the Spirit of adoption, have light,
love, with complacency, in all their walkings with God. The world is
a universal stranger unto the frame of children in their Father's house.
4<thly. The manner oi thefr obedience is willingness. " They yield
themselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead," Rom.
vi. 13 ; they yield themselves, — give up themselves wUlingly, cheer
fully, freely. " With my whole heart," saith David. Rom. xiL 1,
" They present themselves a Uving sacrifice," and a willing sacrifice.
5thly. The rule of their walking with God is the law of Uberty, as
divested of aU its terrifying, threatening, killing, condemning, cursing
power; and rendered, in the blood of Jesus, sweet, tender, useful, di
recting, — helpful as a rule of walking in the life they have received,
not the way of working for the life they have not. I might give more
instances. These may suffice to manifest that liberty of obedience in
the family of God which his sons and daughters have, that the poor
convinced Gibeonites are not acquainted withal.
(2.) The second thing which the chUdren of God have by adoption
is title. They have title and right to aU the privileges and advan
tages of the famUy whereinto they are translated. This is the pre
eminence oi the true sons of any famUy. The ground on which Sarah
pleaded the ejection of Ishmael was, that he was the son of the bond
woman, Gen. xxi. 10, and so no genuine child of the family; and
therefore could have no right of heirship with Isaac. The apostle's
arguing is, "We are no more servants, but sons; and if sons, then

216 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
heirs," Rom. vui. 14-17, — "then have we right and title: and being
not born hereunto (for by nature we are the children of wrath), we
have this right by our adoption."
Now, the saints hereby have a double right and title: — 1st. Proper
and dfrect, in respect of spirituals. 2dly. Consequential, in respect of
temporals : —
[1.] The first, also, or the title, as adopted sons, unto spirituals, is,
in respect of the object of it, twofold: — (1st.) Unto a present place,
name, and room, in the house of God, and all the privileges and
administrations thereof. (2dly.) To a future fulness of the great
inheritance of glory, — of a kingdom purchased for that whole family
whereof they are by Jesus Christ : — -
1st. They have a title unto, and an interest in, the whole admi
nistration of the famUy of God here.
The supreme administration of the house of God in the hand of
the Lord Christ, as to the institution of ordinances and dispensation
of the Spirit, to enliven and make effectual those ordinances for the
end of thefr institution, is the prime notion of this administration.
And hereof they are the prime objects; aU this is for them, and exer
cised towards them. God hath given Jesus Christ to be the " head
over aU thmgs unto the church, which is his body," Eph. i. 22, 23:
he hath made him the head over aU these spiritual things, committed
the authoritative administration of them all unto him, to the use and
behoof of the church ; that is, the famUy of God. It is for the benefit
and advantage of the many sons whom he will bring unto glory that
he doth aU these things, Heb. iL 10; see Eph. iv. 8-13. The aim of
the Lord Jesus in establishing gospel administrations, and admini
strators, is " for the perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry,"
etc. All is for them, all is for the family. In that is the faithfulness
of Christ exercised; he is faithful in all the house of God, Heb. iii. 2.
Hence the apostle teUs the Corinthians, 1 Cor. Ui. 22, 23, of aU these
gospel administrations and ordinances, they are all theirs, and all for
them. What benefit soever redoundeth to the world by the things
of the gospel (as much doth every way), it is engaged for it to the
children of this famUy.. This, then, is the aim and intendment of
the Lord Christ in the institution of all gospel ordinances and.admini-
strations, — that they may be of use for the house and family of God,
and all his chUdren and servants therein.
It is true, the word is preached to aU the world, to gather hi the
children of God's purpose that are scattered up and down in the
world, and to leave the rest inexcusable ; but the prime end and aim
of the Lord Christ thereby is, to gather in those heirs of salvation
unto the enjoyment of that feast of fat things which he hath pre
pared for them in his house.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 217
Again : they, and they only, have right and title to gospel admini
strations, and the privileges of the family of God, as they are held
out in his church according to his mind. The church is the " house
of God," 1 Tim. iii. ] 5; Heb. Ui. 6; herein he keeps and maintains his
whole family, ordering them according to his mind and wUl. Now,
who shall have any right in the house of God, but only his children?
We will not allow, a right to any but our own children in our houses:
will God, think you, allow any right in his house but to his children?
Is it meet, to "take the chUdren's bread and cast it unto the dogs?"
We shall see that none but children have any right or title to the
privUeges and advantages of the house of God, if we consider, —
(1st) The nature of that house. It is made up of such persons
as it is impossible that any but adopted children should have right
unto a place in it. It is composed of " living stones," 1 Pet. ii. 5 ; — a
" chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar
people," verse 9 ; — " saints and faithful in Christ Jesus," Eph. i. 1 ; —
" saints and faithful brethren," Col. i. 2 ; — a people that are " all
righteous," Isa. Ix. 21 ; and the whole fabric of it is glorious, chap. liv.
11-14, — the way of the house is " a way of hoUness," which the un
clean shall not pass through, chap. xxxv. 8 ; yea, expressly, they are
the " sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty," and they only,
2 Cor. vi. 17, 18; all others are excluded, Rev. xxi. 27. It is true
that oftentimes, at unawares, other persons creep into the great house
of God ; and sd there become in it " not only vessels of gold and sUver,
but also of wood and of earth," etc., 2 Tim. ii. 20 ; but they only
creep in, as Jude speaks, verse 4, they have no right nor title to it.
(2dly.) The privileges of the house are such as they will not suit
nor profit any other. To what purpose is it to give food to a dead
man? Will he grow strong by it? wUl he increase upon it? The
things of the famUy and house of God are food for living souls. Now,
children only are alive, all others are dead in trespasses and sins.
What wUl outward signs avail, if life and power be away? Look upon
what particular you please of the saints' enjoyments in the famUy of
God, you shall find them all suited unto believers; and, being be
stowed on the world, [they] would be a pearl in the snout of a swine.
It is, then, only the sons of the family that have this right ; they
have fellowship with que another, and that fellowship with the Father
and the Son Jesus Christ; they set forth the Lord's death tUl he
come ; they are intrusted with aU the ordinances of the house, and
the administration of them. And who shall deny them the enjoy
ment of this right, or keep them from what Christ hath purchased
for them? And the Lord wUl hi the end give them hearts every
where to make use of this title accordingly, and not to wander on
the mountains, forgetting thefr resting-place.

218 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
2dly. They have a title to the future fulness of the inheritance
that is purchased for this whole famUy by Jesus Christ. So the
apostle argues, Rom. viu. 17, " If chUdren, then heirs," etc. All
God's chUdren are " first-born," Heb. xiL 23 ; and therefore are heirs :
hence the whole weight of glory that is prepared for them is called
the inheritance, Col. L 12, " The inheritance of the saints in light."
" If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according
to the promise," Gal. iu. 29. Heirs of the promise; that is, of aU
things promised unto Abraham in and with Christ.
There are three things that in this regard the chUdren of God are
said to be heirs unto : —
(1st) The promise; as in that place of Gal. hi. 29 and Heb. vi. 17.
God shows to " the heirs of the promise the immutabUity of his
counsel;" as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are said to be " heirs of the
same promise," Heb. xi. 9. God had from the foundation of the
world made a most exceUent promise in Christ, containing a deliver
ance from all evU, and an engagement for the bestowing of aU good
things upon them. It contains a deliverance from aU the evU which
the guilt of sin and dominion of Satan had brought upon them, with
an investiture of them in all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in
Christ Jesus. Hence, Heb. ix. 15, the Holy Ghost caUs it a " pro
mise of the eternal inheritance." This, in the first place, are the
adopted children of God heirs unto. Look, whatever is in the pro-i
mise which God made at the beginning to faUen man, and hath since
solemnly renewed and confirmed by his oath; they are heirs of it,
and are accepted in thefr claim for their inheritance in the courts of
heaven. (2dly.) They are heirs of righteousness, Heb. xi. 7. Noah was an
heir of the righteousness which is by faith ; which Peter caUs a being
" heir of the grace of Ufe," 1 Pet. Ui. 7. And James puts both these
together, chap. ii. 5, " Heirs of the kingdom which God hath pro
mised;" that is, of the kingdom of grace, and the righteousness
thereof. And in this respect it is that the apostle tells us, Eph. ill,
that " we have obtained an inheritance;" which he also places with
the righteousness of faith, Acts xxvi. 18. Now, by this righteous
ness, grace, and inheritance, is not only intended that righteousness
which we are here actuaUy made partakers of, but also the end and
accomplishment of that righteousness in glory; which is also assured
in the next place, —
(3dly.) They are " heirs of salvation," Heb. i. 14, and " heirs ac
cording to the hope of eternal life," Tit. UL 7; which Peter caUs an
" inheritance incorruptible," 1 Pet. i. 4 ; and Paul, the " reward of
the inheritance," Col. ui. 24, — that is, the issue of the inheritance of
hght and holiness, which they already enjoy. Thus, then, distinguish

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 219
the full salvation by Christ into the foundation of it, the promises ; and
the means of it, righteousness and hoUness; and the end of it, eternal
glory. The sons of God have a right and title to all, in that they are
made heirs with Christ.
And this is that which is the main of the saints' title and right,
which they have by adoption; which in sum is, that the Lord is their
portion and inheritance, and they are the inheritance of the Lord :
and a large portion it is that they have; the lines are fallen to them
in a goodly place.
[2.] Besides this principal, the adopted sons of God have a second
consequential right, — a right unto the things of this world ; that is,
unto all the portions of it which God is pleased to intrust them here
withal. Christ is the " heir of all things," Heb. i. 2 ; all right and title
to the things of the creation was lost and forfeited by sin. The Lord,
by his sovereignty, had made an original grant of aU things here below
for man's use ; he had appointed the residue of the works of his hands,
in thefr several stations, to be serviceable unto his behoof. Sin re
versed this whole grant and institution, — all things were set at liberty
from this subjection unto him; yet that liberty, being a taking them
off from the end to which they were originaUy appointed, is a part
of their vanity and curse. It is evil to any thing to be laid aside as
to the end to which it was primitively appointed. By this means
the whole creation is turned loose from any subordinate ruler; and
man, having lost the whole title whereby he held his dominion over
and possession of the creatures, hath not the least colour of interest
in any of them, nor can lay any claim unto them. But now the Lord,
intending to take a portion to himself out of the lump of faUen man
kind, whom he appointed heirs of salvation, he doth not immediately
destroy the works of creation, but reserve them for thefr use in their
pilgrimage. To this end he invests the whole right and title of them
in the second Adam, which the first had lost; he appoints him " heir
of all things." And thereupon his adopted ones, being " fellow-heirs
with Christ," become also to have a right and title unto the things
of this creation. To clear up this right, what it is, I must give some
few observations: —
1st The right they have is not as the right that Christ hath; that
is, sovereign and supreme, to do what he wUl with his own; but theirs
is subordinate, and such as that they must be accountable for the use
of those things whereunto they have a right and title. The right of
Christ is the right of the Lord oi the house ; the right of the saints
is the right of servants.
2dly. That the whole number oi the chUdren of God have a right
unto the whole earth, which is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof, in
these two regards: —

220 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
(1st) He who is the sovereign Lord of it doth preserve it merely
for their use, and upon their • account ; all others whatever being
males fidei possessor es, invading a portion of the Lord's territories,,
without grant or leave from him.
(2dly.) In that Christ hath promised to give them the kingdom
and dominion of it, in such a way and manner as in his providence
he shall dispose; that is, that the government of the earth shall be
exercised to their advantage.
3dly. This right is a spiritual right, which doth not give a civU
interest, but only sanctifies the right and interest bestowed. God
hath providentially disposed of the civU bounds of the inheritance of
men, Acts xvii. 26, suffering the men of the world to enjoy a portion
here, and that oftentimes very fuU and plenteous; and that for his
chUdren's sake, that those beasts of the forest, which are made to be
destroyed, may not break loose upon the whole possession. Hence, —
ithly. No one particular adopted person hath any right, by virtue
thereof, to any portion of earthly things whereunto he hath not right
and title upon a civil interest, given him by the providence of God.
But,— -
5thly. This they have by thefr adoption; that, —
(1st) Look, what portion soever God is pleased to give them, they
have a right unto it, as it is re-invested in Christ, and not as it lies
whoUy under the curse and vanity that is come upon the creation by
sin ; and therefore can never be caUed unto an account for usurping
that which they have no right unto, as shaU all the sons of men who
violently grasp those things which God hath set at liberty from under
thefr dominion because of sin.
(2dly.) By this thefr right, they are led unto a sanctified use of
what thereby they do enjoy; inasmuch as the things themselves are
to them pledges of the Father's love, washed in the blood of Christ,
and endearments upon thefr spirits to Uve to his praise who gives
them all things richly to enjoy.
And this is a second thing we have by our adoption; and hence I
dare say of unbelievers, they have no true right unto any thing, of
what kind soever, that they do possess.
They have no true, unquestionable right, I say, even unto the
temporal things they do possess; it is true they have a civil right in
respect of others, but they have not a sanctified right in respect of
their own souls. They have a right and title that will hold plea in
the courts of men, but not a right that will hold in the court of God,
and in thefr own conscience. It will one day be sad with them,, when
they shall come to give an account of their enjoyments. They shall
not only be reckoned withal for the abuse of that they have possessed,
that they have not used and laid it out for the glory of him whose it

OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 221
is; but also, that they have even laid thefr hands upon the creatures
of God, and kept them from them for whose sakes alone they are
preserved from destruction. When the God of glory shaU come home
to any of them, either in their consciences here, or in the judgment
that is for to come, and speak with the terror of a revengeful judge,
" I have suffered you to enjoy corn, wine, and oil, — a great portion of
my creatures; you have rolled yourselves in wealth and prosperity,
when the right heirs of these things lived poor, and low, and mean, at
the next doors ; — give in now an answer what and how you have used
these things. What have you laid out for the service and advancement
of the gospel? What have you given unto them for whom nothing
was provided ? what contribution have you made for the poor saints?
Have you had a ready hand, and willing mind, to lay down all for
my sake ?" — when they shaU be compelled to answer, as the truth is,
" Lord, we had, indeed, a large portion in the world ; but we took it to
be our own, and thought we might have done what we would with
our own. We have ate the fat, and drank the sweet, and left the rest
of our substance for our babes: we have spent somewhat upon our
lusts, somewhat upon our friends ; but the truth is, we cannot say
that we made friends of this unrighteous mammon, — that we used it
to the advancement of the gospel, or for ministering unto thy poor
saints : and now, behold, we must die," etc. : — so also, when the Lord
shall proceed farther, and question not only the use oi these things,
but also their title to them, and tell them, " The earth is mine, and
the fulness thereof. I did, indeed, make an original grant of these
things to man; but that is lost by sin: I have restored it only for
my saints. Why have you laid, then, your fingers of prey upon that
which was not yours? why have you compelled my creatures to
serve you and your lusts, which I had set loose from under your
dominion? Give me my flax, my wine, and wool; I wUl set you
naked as in the day of your birth, and revenge upon you your rapine,
and unjust possession of that which was not yours :" — I say, at such a
time, what will men do?
(3-) 1 Boldness with God by Christ is another privilege of our adop
tion. But hereof I have spoken at large before, in treating of -the
excellency of Christ in respect of our approach to God by him ; so
that I shall not re-assume the consideration of.it.
(4.) Affliction, also, as proceeding from love, as leading to spiri
tual advantages, as conforming unto Christ, as sweetened with his
presence, is the privUege of children, Heb. xU 3-6; but on these
particulars I must not insist.
This, I say, is the head and source of all the privUeges which
Christ hath purchased for us, wherein also we have feUowship with
1 See division, p. 211.

222 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST.
him: fellowship in name; we are (as he is) sons of God: fellowship
in title and right; we are heirs, co-heirs with Christ- fellowship in
likeness and conformity; we are predestinated to be J ike the first
born of the family: fellowship in honour; he is not ashamed to call
us brethren : feUowship in sitfferings; he learned obedience by what
he suffered, and every son is to be scourged that is received : feUow
ship in his kingdom; we shall reign with him. Of all which I must
speak peculiarly in another place, and. so shaU. not here draw out the
discourse concerning them any farther.

PART III.
CHAPTER I.
OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST.
The foundation of our communion with the Holy Ghost (John xvi. 1-7) opened at
large — UxpixXnrog, a Comforter; who he is — The Holy Ghost; his own will
in his coming to us; sent also by Christ — The Spirit sent as a sanctifier and
as a comforter — The adjuncts of his mission considered — The foundation of
his mission, John xv. 26 — His procession from the Father twofold; as to
personality, or to office — Things considerable in his procession as to office
— The manner of his collation — He is given freely; sent authoritatively —
The sin against the Holy Ghost, whence unpardonable — How we ask the
Spirit of the Father — To grieve the Spirit, what — Poured out — How the
Holy Ghost is received; by faith — Faith's actings in receiving the Holy
Ghost — His abode with us, how declared — How we may lose our comfort
whilst the Comforter abides with us.
The foundation of all our communion with the Holy Ghost consist
ing in his mission, or sending to be our comforter, by Jesus Christ,
the whole matter of that economy or dispensation is firstly to be pro
posed and considered, that so we may have a right understanding of
the truth inquired after. Now, the main promise hereof, and the
chief considerations of it, with the good received and evU prevented
thereby, being given and declared in the beginning of the 16th chapter
of John, I shall take a view of the state of it as there proposed.
Our blessed Saviour being to leave the world, having acquainted
his disciples, among other things, what entertainment in general they
were like to find in it and meet withal, gives the reason why he now
gave them the doleful tidings of it, considering how sad and dispirited
they were upon the mention of his departure from them. Verse 1,
" These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be of-

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST. 223
fended." — " I have," saith he, " given you an acquaintance with these
things (that is, the things which wUl come upon you, which you are
to suffer) beforehand, lest you who, poor souls ! have entertained ex
pectations of another state of affairs, should be surprised, so as to be
offended at me and my doctrine, and fall away from me. You are
now forewarned, and know what you have to look for. Yea," saith
he, verse 2, " having acquainted you in general that you shall be per
secuted, I tell you plainly that there shall be a combination of all
men against you, and all sorts of men will put forth their power for
your ruin." — "They shall cast you out of the synagogues; yea, the
time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God
service." — " The ecclesiastical power shaU excommunicate you, — they
shall put you out of thefr synagogues: and that you may not expect
relief from the power of the magistrate against thefr perversity, they
wUl kill you: and that you may know that they wiU do it to the
purpose, without check or control, they wUl think that in killing you
they do God good service; which wUl cause them to act rigorously,
and to the utmost."
" But this is a shaking trial," might they reply : " is our condition
such, that men, in kUling us, will think to approve their consciences
to God?" "Yea, they wUl," saith our Saviour; "but yet, that you
be not mistaken, nor trouble your consciences about thefr confidences,
know that thefr blind and desperate ignorance is the cause of thefr
fury and persuasion," verse 3, " These things will they do unto you,
because they have not known the Father, nor me."
This, then, was to be the state with the disciples. But why did
our Saviour teU it them at this season, to add fear and perplexities
to their grief and sorrow? what advantage should they obtain thereby?
Saith thefr blessed Master, verse 4, " There are weighty reasons why
I should tell you these things; chiefly, that as you may be provided
for them, so, when they do befall you, you may be supported with
the consideration of my Deity and omniscience, who told you aU these
things before they came to pass," verse 4, " But these things have
I told you, that when the time shaU come, ye may remember that I
told you of them." " But if they be so necessary, whence is it that
thou hast not acquainted us with it aU this whUe? why not in the
beginning, — at our nxs\Tcalling?" " Even," saith our Saviour, "be
cause there was no need of any such thing; for whilst I was with you,
you had protection and direction at hand." — " 'And these things I said
not at the beginning, because I was present with you:' but now the
state of things is altered ; I must leave you," verse 4. " And for your
parts, so are you astonished with sorrow, that you do not ask me ' whi
ther I go ;' the consideration whereof would certainly relieve you, see
ing I go to take possession of my glory, and to carry on the work of

224 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST.
your salvation : but your hearts are filled with sorrow and fears, arid
you do not so much as inquire after reUef," verses 5, 6. Whereupon
he adjoins that wonderful assertion, verse 7, " Nevertheless I tell you
the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not
away, the Comforter wUl not come unto you; but if I depart, I wUl
send him unto you."
This verse, then, being the peculiar foundation of what shall after
ward be declared, must particularly be considered, as to the words of
it and their interpretation; and that both with respect to the preface
of them and the asseveration in them, with the reason annexed
thereunto. 1. The preface to them : —
(1.) The first word, uXXd, is an adversative, not excepting to any
thing of what himself had spoken before, but to thefr apprehension:
" I know you have sad thoughts of these things; but yet, neverthe
less." (2.) 'Eyii tyiv aXrjhiav Xiyu v/iib,—44 1 tell you the truth." The words
are exceedingly emphatical, and. denote some great thing to be
ushered in by them. First, 'Eyc«, — "J teU it you, this that shall now
be spoken ; I who love you, who take care of you, who am now about
to lay down my life for you; they are my dying words, that you may
believe me ; I who am truth itself, I tell you." And, —
'Eyii rfiv aXyfoiav xiyoi, — " I tell you the truth." " You have in your
sad, misgiving hearts many misapprehensions of things. You think
if I would abide with you, aU these evUs might be prevented; but,
alas! you know not what is good for you, nor what is expedient 'I
tell you the truth;' this is truth itself, and quiet your hearts in it."
There is need of a great deal of evidence of truth, to comfort their
souls that are dejected and disconsolate under an apprehension of the
absence of Christ from them, be the apprehension true or false.
And this is the first part of the words of our Saviour, the preface
to what he was to deliver to them, by way of a weighty, convincing
asseveration, to disentangle thereby the thoughts of his disciples from
prejudice, and to prepare them for the receiving of that great truth
which he was to deliver.
2. The assertion itself follows: Zv/tpipi/ fyift, h» lyii aviXSu,—'4 Itis
expedient for you that I go away."
There are two things in the words: — Christ's departure; and the
usefulness of it to his disciples: — •
For his departure, it is known what is intended by it; — the with
drawing his bodily presence from the earth after his resurrection, the
" heaven being to receive him, untU the times of the restitution of
all things," Acts iii. 21 ; for in respect of his Deity, and the exer
cise of love and care towards them, he promised to be with them to

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST. 225
the end of the world, Matt, xxviii. 20. Of this saith he, „ ,af epa I/lTv,
— " It conduceth to your good ; it is profitable for you ; it is for your
advantage ; it will answer the end that you aim at." That is the sense
of the wprd which we have translated "' expedient;" — " It is for your
profit and advantage." This, then, is that which our Saviour asserts,
and that with the earnestness before mentioned, desiring to convince
his sorrowful followers of the truth of it, — namely, that his departure,
which they so much feared and were troubled to think of, would turn
to thefr profit and advantage.
3. Now, although it might be expected that they should acquiesce
in this asseveration of truth itself, yet because they were generally
concerned in the ground of the truth of it, he acquaints them with
that also ; and, that we may confess it to be a great matter, that gives
certainty and evidence to that proposition, he expresses it negatively
and positively : " If I go not away, he wUl not come ; but if I depart,
I will send him." Concerning the going away of Christ I have
spoken before ; of the Comforter, his coming and sending, I shall now
treat, as being the thing aimed at.
'O vapdxXrjrog: the word being of sundry significations, many trans
lations have thought fit not to restrain it, but do retain the original
word " paraeletus;" so the Syriac also: and, as some think, it was a
word before in use among the Jews (whence the Chaldee paraphrast
makes use of it, Job xvi. 201) ; and amongst them it signifies one that
so taught others as to dehght them also in his teaching, — that is, to
be thefr comforter. In Scripture it hath two eminent significations, —
an " advocate" and a " comforter;" in the first sense our Saviour is
caUed «apdxXi)rog, 1 John U 1. Whether it be better rendered here
an advocate or a comforter may be doubted.
Look into the foregoing occasion of the words, which is the dis
ciples' sorrow and trouble, and it seems to require the Comforter:
" Sorrow hath fiUed your hearts ; but I wUl send you the Comforter ;" —
look into the next words following, which contain his peculiar work
for which he is now promised to be sent, and they require he should
be an Advocate, to plead the cause of Christ against the world, verse 8.
I shaU choose rather to interpret the promise by the occasion of it,
which was the sorrow of his disciples, and to retain the name of the
Comforter. Who this Comforter is, our blessed Saviour had before declared,
chap. xv. 26. ,He is Tlnvfta rfc aXqfaiag, — " the Spirit of truth;" that
is, the Holy Ghost, who revealeth aU truth to the sons of men. Now,
1 T?- "^V? rendered in our translation, " My friends scorn me," is in the Tar
gum, to which Owen alludes, _rt ,»,\,p'!B, " My advocates are my friends." The
word is the Greek rx(xxX*roi in Hebrew characters. — Ed.
VOL. II. 15

226 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST.
of this Comforter two things are affirmed: — (1.) That he shaU come.
(2.) That Christ shaU send him.
(1.) That he shall come. The affirmative of his coming on the
performance of that condition of it, of Christ going away, is included
in the negation of his coming without its accomplishment: " If I go
not away, he will not come;" — " If I do go (eXiUirui), he wUl come."
So that there is not only the mission of Christ, but the wUl of the
Spirit, in his coming: "He will come," — his own wUl is in his
work. (2.) ni/i-vj/w aiirov, — " I wiU send him." The mystery of his send
ing the Spirit, our Saviour instructs his disciples in by degrees. Chap.
xiv. 1 6, he saith, " I wUl pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter;" in the progress of his discourse he gets one step more
upon thefr faith, verse 26, " But the Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name;" but, chap. xv. 26,
he saith, "I will send him from the Father;" and here, absolutely,
" / will send him." The business of sending the Holy Ghost by
Christ — which argues his personal procession also from him, the Son
— was a deep mystery, which at once they could not bear; and there
fore he thus instructs them in it by degrees.
This is the sum : — the presence of the Holy Ghost with beUevers as
a comforter, sent by Christ for those ends and purposes for which he
is promised, is better and more profitable for beUevers than any cor
poreal presence of Christ can be, now he hath fulfilled the one
sacrifice for sin which he was to offer.
Now, the Holy Spirit is promised under a twofold consideration: —
[1.] As a Spirit of sanctification to the elect, to convert them and
make them believers. [2.] As a Spirit of consolation to believers,
to give them the privileges of the death and purchase of Christ: it
is in the latter sense only wherein he is here spoken of. Now, as to
his presence with us in this regard, and the end and purposes for
which he is sent, for what is aimed at, observe,— rlst. The rise and
fountain of it; 2dly. The manner of his being given ; 3dly. Our man
ner of receiving him; 4-thly. His abiding with us; 5thly. His acting
in us; 6thly. What are the effects of his working in us : and then
how we hold communion with him will from all these appear.
What the Scripture speaketh to these particulars, shall briefly be
considered : —
1st. For the fountain of his coming, it is mentioned, John xv. 26,
Tlapa rov Uarpbg exvopiiierai, — "He proceedeth from the Father;"
this is the fountain of this dispensation, he proceedeth from the
Father. Now there is a twofold hxit6ptveig or "procession" of the
Spirit . —
(1st.) Q>vemr) or \K:oerarixri, in respect of substance and personality.
('Idly) ' Oixovo/j,ixi) or dispensatory, in respect of the work of grace.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST. 227
Of the first — in which respect he is the Spirit of the Father and the
Son, proceeding from both eternally, so receiving his substance and
personality — I speak not: it is a business of another nature than that
I have now in hand. Therein, indeed, lies the first and most remote
foundation of all our distinct communion with him and our worship
of him ; but because abiding in the naked consideration hereof, we
can make no other progress than the bare acquiescence of faith in
the mystery revealed, with the performance of that which is due to
the person solely on the account of his participation of the essence,
I shall not at present dwell upon it.
His lxv6piv<sig or proceeding, mentioned in the place insisted on, is
his economical or dispensatory proceeding, for the carrying on of the
work of grace. It is spoken of him in reference to his being sent by
Christ after his ascension: " I wUl send him which proceedeth," —
namely, " then when I send him." As God is said to "come put of his
place," Isa xxvi. 21, not in regard of any mutation in him, but of the
new work which he would effect; so it follows, the Lord comes out
of his place " to punish the inhabitants of the earth." And it is in
reference to a pecuUar work that he is said to proceed, — namely, to
testify of Christ: which cannot be assigned to him in respect of his
eternal procession, but of his actual dispensation; as it is said of
Christ, " He came forth from God." The single mention of the
Father in this place, and not of the Son, belongs to the gradation
before mentioned, whereby our Saviour discovers this mystery to his
disciples. He speaks as much concerning himself, John xvi. 7. And
this relation ad extra (as they call it) of the Spfrit unto the Father
and the Son, in respect of operation, proves his relation ad intra, in
respect ef personal procession; whereof I spake before.
Three things are considerable in the foundation of this dispensa
tion, in reference to our communion with the Holy Ghost :¦ —
[1st] That the will of the Spirit is in the work : "Exvopibirai, —
" He comes forth himself." Frequent mention is made (as we shall see
afterward) of his being sent, his being given, and poured out; [but]
that it might not be thus apprehended, either that this Spirit were
altogether an inferior, created spfrit, a mere servant, as some have
blasphemed, nor yet merely and principaUy, as to his personality,
the virtue of God, as some have fancied, he hath Ihii/utra birogranxd,
personal properties, applied to him in this work, arguing his per
sonality and liberty. 'Ex«opsbsrai, — " He, of himseff and of his own
accord, proceedeth."
[2c%.] The condescension of the Holy Ghost in this order of
working, this dispensation, to proceed from the Father and the Son,
as to this work; to take upon him this work of a Comforter, as the
Son did the work of a Redeemer: of which afterward.
[3dly.] The fountain of the whole is discovered to be the Father,

228 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST.
that we may know his works in the pursuit of electing love, which
everywhere is ascribed to the Father. This is the order here inti
mated : — First, there is the vpokmg of the Father, or the purpose of
his love, the fountain of aU ; then the ipdrtjeig, the asking of the Son,
John xiv. 16, which takes in his merit and purchase; whereunto
follows ixiropeueig, or willing proceeding of the Holy Ghost. And
this gives testimony, also, to the foundation of this whole discourse, —
namely, our peculiar communion with the Father in love, the Son
in grace, and' the Holy Ghost in consolation. This is the door and
entrance of that fellowship of the Holy Ghost whereunto we are
called. His gracious and blessed will, his infinite and ineffable con
descension, being eyed by faith as the foundation of all those effects
which he works in us, and privileges whereof by him we are made
partakers, our souls are peculiarly conversant with him, and their
desires, affections, and thankfulness, terminated on him: of which
more afterward. This is the first thing considerable in our commu
nion with the Holy Ghost.
2dly. The manner of his collation or bestowing, or the manner
of his communication unto us from this fountain, is herein also con
siderable ; and it is variously expressed, to denote three things : —
(1st.) The freeness of it : thus he is said to be given, John xiv. 16 ;
" He shall give you another Comforter." I need not multiply places to
this purpose. The most frequent adjunct of the communication of
the Spirit is this, that he is given and received as of gift: "He wUl
give his Holy Spirit to them that ask him." That which is of gift is
free. The Spfrit of grace is given of grace : and not only the Spfrit of
sanctification, or the Spirit to sanctify and convert us, is a gift of free
grace, but in the sense wlrereof we speak, in respect of consolation,
he is of gift also ; he is promised to be given unto believers.1 Hence
the Spirit is said to be received by the gospel, not by the law, Gal.
iU. 2; that is, of mere grace, and not of our own procuring. And all
his workings are called x_aptgpara, — " free donations." He is freely
bestowed, and freely works; and the different measures wherein he is
received, for those ends and purposes of consolation which we shall
consider, by believers, which are great, various, and inexpressible,
arise from hence, that we have him by donation, or free gift. And
this is the tenure whereby we hold and enjoy him, a tenure of free
donation. So is he to be eyed, so to be asked, so to be received. And
this, also, faith takes in and closeth withal, in our communion with
the Comforter: — the conjunction and accord of his will with the gift
of Father and Son; the one respecting the distinct operation of the
Deity in the person of the Holy Ghost; the other, the economy of the
whole Trinity in the work of our salvation by Jesus Christ. Here
1 Neh. ix. 20; John xiv. 16, vii. 39, xx. 22; Acts ii. 28, v. 32, viii. 15, x. 47,
tv. 8, xix. 'i; Hum. v. 5; 1 Cor. ii. 12, vi. ly. xii. 7; 1 Thess. iv.8; 1 John iv. 13.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 229
the soul rejoiceth itself iri the Comforter, — that he is wUling to come
to him, that he is wUling to be given him. And seeing all is wiU
and gift, grace is magnified on this account.
(2dly.) The authority oi it. Thence he is said to be sent. Chap.
xiv. 26, " The Father wiU send him in my name ;" and, chap. xv. 26, "I
will send. him unto you from the Father;" and, " Him will I send un
to you," chap. xvi. 7. This mission of the Holy Ghost by the Father
and the Son, as it answers the order of the persons' subsistence in the
blessed Trinity, and his procession from them both, so the order
voluntarily engaged in by them for the accomplishment, as was said, -
of the work of our salvation. There is in it, in a most special manner,
the condescension of the Holy Ghost, in his love to us, to the autho
ritative delegation of Father and Son in this business; which argues
not a disparity, dissimilitude, or inequality of essence, but of office,
in this work. It is the office of the Holy Ghost to be an advocate for
us, and a comforter to us ; in which respect, not absolutely, he is thus
sent authoritatively by Father and Son. It is a known maxim, that
" inaequalitas officii non tollit eequalitatem natural" This subjection (if
I may so call it), or inequality in respect of office, doth no ways pre
judice the equality of nature which he hath with Father and Son; no
more than the mission of the Son by the Father doth his. And on
this authoritative mission of the Spirit doth the right apprehension
of many mysteries in the gospel, and the ordering of our hearts in
communion with him, depend.
[1st] Hence is the sin against the Holy Ghost (what it is I do
not now dispute) unpardonable, and hath that adjunct of rebeUion
put upon it that no other sin hath, — namely, because he comes not, he
acts not, in his own name only, though in his own also, but in the
name and authority of the Father and Son, from and by whom he is
sent ; and therefore, to sin against him is to sin against all the autho
rity of God, all the love of the Trinity, and the utmost condescension
of each person to the work of our salvation. It is, I say, from the
authoritative mission of the Spirit that the sin against him is peculi
arly unpardonable ; — it is a sin against the recapitulation of the love
of the Father, Son, and Spfrit. And from this consideration, were
that our present business, might the true nature of the sin against
the Holy Ghost be investigated. Certainly it must consist in the
contempt of some operation of his, as acting in the name and autho
rity of the whole Trinity, and that in their ineffable condescension to
the work of grace. But this is of another consideration.
[2c%.] On this account we are to pray the Father and the Son
to give the Spirit to us. Luke xi. 13, " Your heavenly Father will
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." Now the Holy Ghost,
being God, is no less to be invocated, prayed to, and called on, than

230 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
the Father and Son; as elsewhere I have proved. How, then, do we
ask the Father for him, as we do in all our supplications, seeing that
we also pray that he himself would come to us, visit us, and abide
with us? In our prayers that are directed to himseff, we consider
him as essentially God over all, blessed for evermore ; we pray for
him from the Father and Son, as under this mission -and delegation
from them. And, indeed, God having most plentifully revealed him
self in the order of this dispensation to us, we are (as Christians
generally do) in our communion to abound in answerable addresses;
that is, not only to the person of the Holy Ghost himself, but pro
perly to the Father and Son for him, which refers to this dispen
sation. '
[3dly.] Hence is that great weight, in particular, laid upon our not
grieving the Spirit, Eph. iv. 30, — because he comes to us in the name,
with the love, and upon the condescension, of the whole blessed
Trinity. To do that which might grieve him so sent, on such an
account, for that end and purpose which shall afterward be mentioned,
is a great aggravation of sin. He expects cheerful entertainment with
us, and may do so justly, upon his own account, and the account of
the work which he comes about ; but when this also is added, that
he is sent of the Father and the Son, commissioned with their love
and grace, to communicate them to thefr souls, — this is that which is,
or ought to be, of unspeakable esteem with beUevers. And this is
that second thing expressed in the manner of his communication, —
he is sent by authority.
(3dly.) He is said to be poured out or shed on us, Tit. Ui 6, OS
Jgs^sEv if wag iiXovaiuig, — that Holy Ghost which he hath richly poured
out upon us, or shed on us abundantly. And this was the chief ex
pression of his communication under the Old Testament ; the mystery
of the Father and the Son, and the matter of commission and dele
gation being then not so clearly discovered. Isa. xxxU. 15, " Until the
Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruit
ful field, and the fruitful field be. counted for a forest;" that is, till
the Gentiles be caUed, and the Jews rejected. And chap. xhv. 3,
" I wUl pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine
offspring." That eminent place of Zech. xU. 10 is always in our
thoughts. Now, this expression, as is known, is taken from the
allusion of the Spfrit unto water; and that in relation to all the
uses of water, both natural and typical. A particular relation of
them I cannot now insist on ; perhaps efficacy and plenty are chiefly
intended. Now, this threefold expression, oi giving, sending, and pouring out,
of the Spirit, gives us the three great properties of the covenant of
grace: — First, That it is free: he is given. Secondly, That it is or-

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 231
devly, ordered in all things, and sure, from the love of the Father, by
the procurement of the Son ; and thence is that variety of expression,
of the Father's sending him, and ihe Son's sending him from the
Father, he being the gfft of the Father's love, and purchase of the
blood of the Son. Thirdly. The efficacy of it, as was last observed.
And this is the second thing considerable.
3dly. The third, which is our receiving him, I shall speak more
briefly of That which I first proposed of the Spirit, considered as
a Spfrit of sanctification and a Spirit of consolation, is here to be
minded. Our receiving of him as a Spirit of sanctification is a mere
passive reception, as a vessel receives water. He comes as the wind
on Ezekiel's dead bones, and makes them live; he comes into dead
hearts, and quickens them, by an act of his almighty power: but
now, as he is the Spirit of consolation, it is otherwise. In this sense
our Saviour tells us that the " world cannot receive him," John xiv. 1 7,
"The world receiveth him not, because it seeth, him not, neither
knoweth him : but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall
be in you." That it is the Spfrit of consolation, or the Spirit for conso
lation, that here is promised, is evident from the close of the verse,
where he is said then to be in them when he is promised to them.
He was in them as a Spfrit of quickening and sanctification when
promised to them as a Spfrit of comfort and consolation, to abide
with them for that purpose. Now, the power that is here denied to
be in the world, with the reason of it, that they cannot receive the
Spirit, because they know him not, is ascribed to believers; — they
can receive him, because they know him. So that there is an active
power to be put forth in his reception for consolation, though not in
his reception for regeneration and sanctification. And this is the
power of faith. So Gal. Ui. 2, they received the Spfrit by the hear
ing of faith; — the preaching of the gospel, begetting faith in them,
enabled them to receive the Spfrit. Hence, beUeving is put as the
qualification of aU our receiving the Holy Ghost. John vU. 39, " This
he spake of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should re
ceive." It is believers that thus receive the Spirit; and they receive
him by faith. Now, there are three special acts of faith, where
by it goes forth in the receiving of the Spfrit. I shaU but name
them: —
(1st) It considers the Spirit, in the economy before described, as
promised. It is faith alone that makes profit of the benefit of the
promises, Heb. iv. 2. Now he is called the Spirit of that promise,
Eph. i. 13, — the Spfrit that in the covenant is promised; and we re
ceive the promise of the Spfrit through faith, Gal. Ui. 14: so that the
receiving of the Spirit through faith, is the receiving of him as pro
mised. Faith eyes the promise of God and of Jesus Christ, of send-

232 - OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
ing the Spirit for all those ends that he is desired; thus it depends,
waits, mixing the promise with itself, until it receive him.
(2dly.) By prayer. He is given as a Spirit of supplication, that we
may ask him as a Spfrit of consolation,„Luke xi. 13; and, indeed, this
asking of the Spirit of God, in the name of Christ, either directly or
immediately, or under the name of some fruit and effect of him, is
the chiefest work of faith in this world.
(3dly.) It cherisheth him, by attending to his motions, improving
his actings according to his mind and wUl ; which is all I shall say
to this third thing, or our receiving of the Spfrit, which is sent of
Jesus Christ. We do it by faith, looking on him as purchased by Jesus
Christ, and promised of the Father; we seek him at the hands of God,
and do receive him.
4>thly. The next considerable thing is, his abode with us. Now this
is two ways expressed in the Scripture: —
(1st) In general. As to the thing itself, it is said he shall abide
with us.
(2dly) In particular. As to the manner of its abiding, it is by
inhabitation or indweUing. Of the inhabitation of the Spirit I have
spoken fully1 elsewhere, nor shall I now insist on it. Only whereas
the Spirit, as hath been observed, is considered as a Spirit of sancti
fication, or a Spirit of consolation, he is said to dweU in us chiefly,
or perhaps solely, as he is a Spirit of sanctification : which is evident
from the work he doeth, as indweUing, — he quickeneth and sanctifieth,
Rom. viU. 1 1 ; and the manner of his indweUing, — as in a temple, which
he makes holy thereby, 1 Cor. vi. 19; and his permanency in his so
doing, — which, as is evident, relates to sanctification only: but yet the
general notion of it in abiding is ascribed to him as a comforter, John
xiv. 16, " He shall abide with you for ever." Now, aU the difficulty
of this promise lies in this, that whereas the Spirit of sanctification
dweUs in us always, and it is therefore impossible that we should lose
utterly our holiness, whence is it that, if the Comforter abide with
us for ever, we may yet utterly lose our comfort ? A little to clear
this in our passage : —
[1st] He is promised to abide with the disciples for ever, in op
position to the abode of Christ. Christ, in the flesh, had been with
them for a little whUe, and now was leaving them, and going to his
Father. He had been the comforter immediately himself for a season,
but is now upon his departing; wherefore, promising them another
comforter, they might fear that he would even but visit them for a
little season also, and then their condition would be worse than ever.
Nay, but saith our Saviour, "Fear it not: this is the last dispensa
tion; there is to be no alteration. When I am gone, the Comforter
' Perseverance of the Saints, chap, viii, vol. xi.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST. 233
is to do all the remaining work: there is not another to be looked
for, and I promise you him ; nor shall he depart from you, but always
abide with you."
[2dly.] The Comforter may always abide with us, though not
always comfort us ; he who is the Comforter may abide, though he
do not always that work. For other ends and purposes he is always
with us ; as to sanctify and make us holy. So was the case with David,
Ps. li. 11, 12, " Take not thy Holy Spfrit from me." The Holy Spirit
of sanctification was still with David ; but saith he, " Restore unto
me the joy of thy salvation ;" — that is, the Spirit of consolation, that
was lost, when the promise was made good in the abode of the
9ther. [3c%.] The Comforter may abide as a comforter, when he doth
not actually comfort the soul. In truth, as to the essence of holiness,
he cannot dwell in us but withal he must make us holy; for the
temple of God is holy ; — but as tb his comforting, his actings therein
are all of his sovereign wUl; so that he may abide, and yet not
actually comfort us.
[4£Afo/.] The Spfrit often works for it, and tenders consolation to
us, when we do not receive it; the well is nigh, and we see it not, —
we refuse to be comforted. I told you that the Spirit as a sanctifier
comes with power, to conquer an unbelieving heart; the Spirit as a
comforter comes with sweetness, to be received in a believing heart.
¦i He speaks, and we believe not that it is his voice; he tenders the
things of consolation, and we receive them not. " My sore ran," saith
David, " and my soul refused to be comforted."
[5thly.] I deny that ever the Holy Spirit doth absolutely and uni
versally leave a believing soul without consolation. A man may be
darkened, clouded, refuse comfort, — actually find none, feel none ;
but radically he hath a foundation of consolation, which in due time
wiU be drawn forth : and therefore, when God promises that he will
heal sinners, and restore comfort to them, as Isa. Ivii. 18, it is not that
they were without any, but that they had not so much as they needed,
that that promise is made. To insist on the several ways whereby
men refuse comfort, and come short of the strong consolation which
God is wUling that we should receive, is not my purpose at present.
Thus, then, the Spirit being sent and given, abideth with the souls of
beUevers, — leaves them not, though he variously manifest himself in
his operations : of which in the next place.

234 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST.

CHAPTER II.
Of the actings of the Holy Ghost in us, being bestowed on us — He worketh
effectually, distributeth, giveth.
Having thus declared from whence and how the Holy Ghost is
given unto us as a Spirit of consolation, I come, in the next place, —
5thly. To declare what are his actings in us and towards us, being
so bestowed on us and received by us. Now, here are two general
heads to be considered : — (1st) The manner and kind of his actings
in us, which are variously expressed; and, (2dly.) The particular pro
ducts of his actings in our souls, wherein we have communion with
him. The first is variously, expressed; I shaU pass through them
briefly : —
(1st) He is said (InpyeTv) " to work effectuaUy," 1 Cor. xU. 11, " AU
these worketh" (or effecteth) "that one and the self-same Spfrit." It
is spoken there, indeed, in respect of his distribution of gifts ; but the
way is the same for the communication of graces and privileges. He
doth it by working : which, as it evinces his personaUty, especially
as considered with the words following, " Dividing to every man ac
cording to his wUl " (for to work according to wiU is the inseparable
property of a person, and is spoken expressly of God, Eph. L 11); so
in relation to verse 6, foregoing, it makes no less evident his Deity.
What he is here said to do as the Spirit bestowed on us and given
unto us, there is he said as God himself to do : " There are diversities
of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in aU ;" which
here, in other words, is, " AU these worketh that one and the self
same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he wiU." What we
have, then, from him, we have by the way of his energetical working.
It is not by proposing this or that argument to us, persuading us by
these or those moral motives or inducements alone, leaving us to
make use of them as we can; but he works effectuaUy himseff, what
he communicates of grace or consolation to us.
[2dly.] In the same verse, as to the manner of his operation, he is
said diaiptTv, — he divideth or distributeth to every one as he will. This
of distribution adds to that of operation, choice, judgment, and free
dom. He that distributes variously, doth it with choice, and judgment,
and freedom of will. Such are the proceedings of the Spfrit in his
dispensations: to one, he giveth one thing eminently; to another,
another ; — to one, in one degree ; to another, in another. Thus are the
saints, in his sovereignty, kept in a constant dependence on him. He
distributes as he will; — who should not be content with his portion'!

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST. 235
what claim can any lay to that which he distributeth as he will?
which is farther manifested, —
[3dZ?/.] By his being said to give when and what he bestows. They
" spake with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance," Acts
ii. 4. He gave them to them ; that is, freely : whatever he bestows upon
us, is of his gift. And hence it is to be observed, that in the economy
of our salvation, the acting of no one person doth prejudice the free
dom and liberty of any other: so the love of the Father in sending
the Son is free, and his sending doth no ways prejudice the liberty
and love of the Son, but that he lays down his life freely also; so
the satisfaction and purchase made by the Son doth no way prejudice
the freedom of the Father's grace in pardoning and accepting us
thereupon ; So the Father's and Son's sending of the Spfrit doth not
derogate from his freedom in his workings, but he gives freely what
he gives. And the reason of this is, because the will of the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, is essentiaUy the same ; so that in the acting of
one there is the counsel of aU and each freely therein.
Thus, in general, is the manner and kind of his working in us and
towards us, being bestowed upon us, described. Power, choice, free
dom, are evidently denoted in the expressions insisted on. It is not
any peculiar work of his towards us that is hereby declared, but the
manner how he doth produce the effects that shall be insisted on.
(2dly!) That which remains, in the last place, for the explanation
of the things proposed to be explained as the foundation of the com
munion which we have with the Holy Ghost, is, —
The effects that, being thus sent and thus working, he doth pro
duce ; which I shall do, not casting them into any artificial method,
but taking them up as I find them lying scattered up and down in
the Scripture, only descending from those which are more general to*
those which are more particular, neither aiming nor desiring to gather
all the severals, but insisting on those which do most obviously occur.
Only as formerly, so now you must observe, that I speak of the
Spfrit principally (if not only) as a comforter, and not as a sanctifier;
and therefore the great work of the Spirit towards us all our days, in
the constant and continual suppUes of new Ught, power, vigour, as to
our receivings of grace from him, belonging to that head of sanctifi
cation, must be omitted.
Nor shall I insist on those things which the Comforter doth in be
lievers effect towards others, in his testifying to them and convincing
of the world, which are promised, John xv. 26, xvi. 8, wherein he is
properly their advocate ; but only on those which as a comforter he
works in and towards them on whom he is bestowed.

236 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST.

CHAPTER III. i
Of the things wherein we have communion with the Holy Ghost — He brings w
remembrance the things spoken by Christ, John xiv. 26 — The manner how
he doth it — The Spirit glorifies Christ in the hearts of believers, John xvi. 14,
sheds abroad the love of God in them — The witness of the Spirit, what it is,
Rom. viii. 16 — The sealing of the Spirit, Eph. i. 13 — The Spirit, how an
earnest ; on the part of God, on the part of the saints — Difference between the
earnest of the Spirit and tasting of the powers of the world to come — Unc
tion by the Spirit, Isa. xi. 2, 3 — The various teachings of the Holy Ghost —
How the Spirit of adoption and of supplication.
The things which, in the foregoing chapters, I called effects of the
Holy Ghost in us, or towards us, are the subject-matter of our commu
nion with him, or the things wherein we hold peculiar fellowship with
him as our comforter. These are now proposed to consideration: —
1. The first and most general is that of John xiv. 26, " He shall
teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, what
soever I have said unto you." There are two parts of this promise: —
(1.) Of teaching. (2.) Of bringing to remembrance. Of his teach
ing I shall speak afterward, when I come to treat of his anointing us.
His bringing the things to remembrance that Christ spake is the
first general promise of him as a comforter: 'Tm/Mtjeei b/i&g irdvra, —
" He shall make you mind all these things." Now, this also may be
considered two ways: —
[1.] Merely in respect of the things spoken themselves. So our
Saviour here promiseth his apostles that the Holy Ghost should bring
to thefr minds, by an immediate efficacy, the things that he had
"spoken, that by his inspiration they might be enabled to write and
preach them for the good and benefit of his church. So Peter tells
us, 2 Epist. i. 21, " Holy men of God spake as they were moved by
the Holy Ghost" (that is, in writing the Scripture) ; M Tlvtv/jiaroc,
ayiov <pip6(Mvoi, — borne up by him, carried beyond themselves, to speak
his words, and what he indited to them. The apostles forgot much
of what Christ had said to them, or might do so ; and what they did
retain, in a natural way of remembrance, was not a sufficient founda
tion to them to write what they so remembered for a rule of faith to
the church. For the word of prophecy is not ISlag imXbeeug, — from
any man's proper impulse ; it comes not from any private conception,
understanding, or remembrance. Wherefore, Christ promises that
the Holy Ghost shall do this work; that they might infallibly give
out what he had delivered to them. Hence that expression in Luke
i. 3, TluprixoXovtSrixori avoikv, is better rendered, " Having obtained per
fect knowledge of things from above," — noting the rise and spring of

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST. 237
his so understariding things as to be able infallibly to give them out
in a rule of faith to the church, than the beginning of the things
themselves spoken of; which the word itself will not easUy aUow of.
[2.] In respect of the comfort of what he had spoken, which seems
to be a great part of the intendment of this promise. He had been
speaking to them things suited for thefr consolation ; giving them
precious promises of the supplies they should have from him in this
Ufe, — of the love of the Father, of the glory he was providing for them,
the sense and comfort whereof is unspeakable, and the joy arising
from them full of glory. But saith he, " I know how unable you are
to make use of these things for your own consolation; the Spfrit,
therefore, shall recover them upon your minds, in their full strength
and vigour, for that end for which I speak them." And this is one
cause why it was expedient for believers that Christ's bodily absence
should be supplied by the presence of the Spirit. WhUst he was with
them, how little efficacy on thefr hearts had any of the heavenly pro
mises he gave them ! When the Spirit came, how full of joy did he
make aU things to them ! That which was his peculiar work, whieh
belonged to him by virtue of his office, that he also might be glorified,
was reserved for him. And this is his work to the end of the world, —
to bring the promises of Christ to our minds and hearts, to give us
the comfort of them, the joy and sweetness of them, much beyond
that which the disciples found in them, when Christ in person spake
them to them ; their gracious influence being then restrained, that, as
was said, the dispensation of the Spirit might be glorified. So are
the next words to this promise, verse 27, " Peace I leave with you,
my peace I give unto you." The Comforter being sent to bring
what Christ said to remembrance, the consequent of it is peace, and
freedom from trouble of heart; — whatever peace, relief, comfort, joy,
supportment, we have at any time received from any work, promise,
or thing done by Christ; it aU belongs to this dispensation of the
Comforter. In vain should we apply our natural abilities to remem
ber, call to mind, consider, the promises of Christ ; -without success
would it be, — it is so daily : but when the Comforter doth undertake
the work, it is done to the purpose. How we have peculiar com
munion with him herein, in faith and obedience, in the consolation
received in and by the promises of him brought to mind, shah be
afterward declared. This, in general, is obtained : — our Saviour Jesus
Christ, leaving the efficacy even of those promises which in person
he gave to his apostles iri their great distress, as to thefr consolation,
unto the Holy Ghost, we may see the immediate spring of aU the spi
ritual comfort we have in this world, and the fellowship which we
have with the Holy Ghost therein.
Only here, as in all the particulars foUowing, the manner of the

238 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST.
Spirit's working this thing is always to be borne in mind, and the
interest of his power, will, and goodness in his working. He doth
this, — 1st. Powerfully, or effectually; 2dly. Voluntarily; 3dly. Freely.
1st Powerfully: and therefore doth comfort from the words and
promises of Christ sometimes break in through all opposition into
the saddest and darkest condition imaginable; it comes and makes
men sing in a dungeon, rejoice in flames, glory in tribulation ; it wiU
into prisons, racks, through temptations, and the greatest distresses
imaginable. Whence is this? TJ llvsv/ia ivipyeT, — the Spfrit works
effectually, his power is in it ; he will work, and none shall let him.
If he will bring to our remembrance the promises of Christ for our
consolation, neither Satan nor man, sin nor world, nor death, shall
interrupt our comfort. This the saints, who have communion with
the Holy Ghost, know to their advantage. Sometimes the heavens
are black over them, and the earth trembles under them; public,
personal calamities and distresses appear so full of horror and dark
ness, that they are ready to faint with the apprehensions of them ; —
hence is their great relief, and the retrievement of thefr spirits; their
consolation or trouble depends not on any oritward condition or
inward frame of their own hearts, but on the powerful and effectual
workings of the Holy Ghost, which by faith they give themselves up
unto. 2dly. Voluntarily, — distributing to every one as he wUl; and there
fore is this work done in so great variety, both as to the same person
and divers. For the same person, full of joy sometimes in a great
distress, full of consolation, — every promise brings sweetness when
his pressures are great and heavy; another time, in the least trial
[he] seeks for comfort, searches the promise, and it is far away. The
reason is, Unvpa diaipeT xaiiig fiobXtrai, — the Spfrit distributes as he
will. And so with divers persons: to some each promise is fuU of
Ufe and comfort ; others taste little aU their days ; — aU upon the same
account. And this faith especially regards in the whole business of
consolation : — it depends on the sovereign will of the Holy Ghost ; and
so is not tied unto any rales or course of procedure. Therefore dotll
it exercise itself in waiting upon him for the seasonable accomplish
ment of the good pleasure of his wUl.
3dly. Freely: Much of the variety of the dispensation of consola
tion by promises depends on this freedom of the Spirit's operation.
Hence it is that comfort is given unexpectedly, when the heart hath
aU the reasons in the world to look for distress and sorrow; thus
sometimes it is the first means of recovering a backshding soul, who
might justly expect to be utterly cast off. And these considerations
are to be carried on in all the other effects and fruits of the Com
forter: of which afterward. And in this first general effect or work

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST. 239
of the Holy Ghost towards us have we communion and fellowship
with him. The life and soul of aU our comforts lie treasured up in
the promises of Christ. They are the breasts of all our consolation.
Who knows not how powerless they are in the bare letter, even when
improved to the uttermost by our considerations of them, and medi
tation on them? as also how unexpectedly they sometimes break
upon the soul with a conquering, endearing life and vigour? Here
faith deals peculiarly with the Holy Ghost. It considers the promises
themselves ; looks up to him, waits for him, considers his appearances
in the word depended on, — owns him in his work and efficacy. No
sooner doth the soul begin to feel the life of a promise warming his
heart, reUeving, cherishing, supporting, delivering from fear, entan
glements, or troubles, but it may, it ought, to know that the Holy
Ghost is there ; which wUl add to his joy, and lead him into fellow
ship with him.
2. The next general- work seems to be that of John xvi. 14, " The
Comforter shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall
show it unto you." The work of the Spfrit is to glorify Christ:
whence, by the way, we may see how far that spirit is from being the
Comforter who sets up himself in the room of Christ; such a spirit
as saith he is all himseff: " for as for him that suffered at Jerusalem, it
is no matter that we trouble ourselves about him. This spfrit is now
all. This is not the Gomforter. His work is to glorify Christ, — him
that sends him. And this is an evident sign of a false spirit, what
ever its pretence be, if it glorify not that Christ who was now speaking
to his apostles; and such are many that are gone abroad into the
worl,d. But what shaU this Spirit do, that Christ may be glorified ?
" He shall," saith he, " take of mine," — in roD e/iov Xr\-\nrai. What
these things are is declared in the next verse : " All things that the
Father hath are mine; therefore I said he shall take of mine." It
is not of the essence and essential properties of the Father and
Son that our Saviour speaks; but of the grace which is communi
cated to us by them. This Christ calls, " My things," being the fruit
of his purchase and mediation: on which account he saith all his
Father's things are his; that is, the things that the Father, in his
eternal love, hath provided to be dispensed in the blood of his Son, — all
the fruits of election. " Th„e," said he, " the Comforter shall receive ;
that is, they shall be committed unto him to dispose for your good
and advantage, to the end before proposed." So it foUows, avayyiXi?, —
" He shall show, or declare and make them known to you." Thus,
then, is he a comforter. He reveals to the souls of sinners the good
things of the covenant of grace, which the Father hath provided, and
the Son purchased. He shows to us mercy, grace, forgiveness, right
eousness, acceptation with God ; letteth us know that these are the

240 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
things of Christ, which he hath procured for us; shows them to us
fqr our comfort and establishment. These things, I say, he effectuaUy
declares to the souls of beUevers; and makes them know them for
their own good ; — know them as originally the things of the Father,
prepared from eternity in his love and good-wUl; as purchased for
them by Christ, and laid up in store in the covenant of grace for
their use. Then is Christ magnified and glorified in thefr hearts;
then they know what a Saviour and Redeemer he is. A soul doth
never glorify or honour Christ upon a discovery or sense of the
eternal redemption he hath purchased for him, but it is in him
a peculiar effect of the Holy Ghost as our comforter. " No man
can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost," 1 Cor. ¦
xu. 3.
3. He " sheds the love of God abroad in our hearts," Rom. v. 5.
That it is the love of God to us, not our love to God, which is here
intended, the context is so clear as nothing can be added thereunto.
Now, the love of God is either of ordination or of acceptation, — the
love of his purpose to do us good, or the love of acceptation and ap
probation with him. Both these are caUed the love of God frequently
in Scripture, as I have declared. Now, how can these be shed abroad
in our hearts? Not in themselves, but in a sense of them,— rin a spi
ritual apprehension of them. 'Exxeyvrai, is " shed abroad;" the same
word that is used concerning the Comforter being given us, Tit. in. 6.
God sheds him abundantly, or pours him on us; so he sheds abroad,
or pours out the love of God in our hearts. Not to insist on the
expression, which is metaphorical, the business is, that the Comforter
gives a sweet and plentiful evidence and persuasion of the love of
God to us, such as the soul is taken, deUghted, satiated withal. This
is his work, and he doth it effectually. To give a poor sinful soul a
comfortable persuasion, affecting it throughout, in aU its faculties
and affections, that God in Jesus Christ loves him, deUghts in him,
is well pleased with him, hath thoughts of tenderness and kindness
towards him; to give, I say, a soul an overflowing sense hereof, is an
inexpressible mercy.
This we have in a peculiar manner by the Holy Ghost; it is his
peculiar work. As all his works are works of love and kindness, so
this of communicating a sense of the love of the Father mixes itself
with all the particulars of his actings. And as we have herein pecu
liar -communion with himself, so by him we have communion with
the Father, even in his love, which is thus shed abroad in our hearts:
so not only do we rejoice in, and glorify the Holy Ghost, which doth
this work, but in him also whose love it is. Thus is it also in respect
of the Son, in his taking of his, and showing of it unto us, as was
declared. What we have of heaven in this world Ues herein; and

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 241
the manner of our fellowship with the Holy Ghost on this account
faUs in with what was spoken before.
4. Another effect we have of his, Rom. viii. 16, "The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God."
You know whose chUdren we are by nature, — chUdren of Satan and
of the curse, or of wrath. By the Spirit we are put into another
capacity, and are adopted to be the children of God, inasmuch as by
receiving the Spfrit of our Father we become the chUdren of our
Father. Thence is he called, verse 15, "The Spirit of adoption."
Now, sometimes _the soul, because it hath somewhat remaining in it
of the principle that it had in its old condition, is put to question
whether it be a child of God or no ; and thereupon, as in a thing of
the greatest importance, puts in its claim, with all the evidences that
it hath to make good its title. The Spirit comes and bears witness
in this case. An allusion it is to judicial proceedings in point of titles
and evidences. The judge being set, the person concerned lays his
claim, produceth his evidences, and pleads them; his adversaries en
deavouring aU that in them Ues to invalidate them, and disannul his
plea, and to cast him in his claim. In the midst of the trial, a person
of known and approved integrity comes into the court, and gives tes
timony fully and directly on the behalf of the claimer ; which stops
the mouths of all his adversaries, and-fills the man that pleaded with
joy and satisfaction. So is it in this case. The soul, by the power
of its own conscience, is brought before the law of God. There a man
puts in his plea, — that he is a chUd of God, that he belongs to God's
famUy; and for this end produceth all his evidences, every thing
whereby faith gives him an interest in God. Satan, in the mean
time, opposeth with aU his might ; sin and law assist him ; many flaws
are found in his evidences; the truth of them all is questioned; and
the soul hangs in suspense as to the issue. In the midst of the plea
and contest the Comforter comes, and, by a word of promise or othei
wise, overpowers the heart with a comfortable persuasion (and bears
down all objections) that his plea is good, and that he is a chUd of
God. And therefore it is said of him, 2v/tp,aprvpe7 rfi Jlvibpari t)puv.
When our spirits are pleading thefr right and title, he comes in and
bears witness on our side; at the same time enabling us to put forth
acts of filial obedience, kind and child-like; which is caUed "crying,
Abba, Father," Gal. iv. 6. Remember stUl the manner of the Spirit's
working, before mentioned, — that he doth it effectuaUy, voluntarily,
and freely. Hence sometimes the dispute hangs long, — the cause is
pleading many years. The law seems sometimes to prevaU, sin and
Satan to rejoice; and the poor soul is fiUed with dread about its
inheritance. Perhaps its own -witness, from its faith, sanctification,
former experience, keeps up the plea with some life and comfort ;
VOL. li. 16

242 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
but the work is not done, the conquest is not fully obtained, until
the Spfrit, who worketh freely and effectuaUy, when and how he w_,
comes in with his testimony also; clothing his power with a word of
promise, he makes all parties concerned to attend unto him, and puts
an end to the controversy.
Herein he gives us holy communion with himself. The soul knows
his voice when he speaks, " Nee hominem sonat." There is something
too great in it to be the effect of a created power. When the Lord
Jesus Christ at one word stilled the raging of the sea and wind, aU
that were with him knew there was divine power at hand, Matt.
viii. 25-27. And when the Holy Ghost by one word stUls the tumults
and storms that are raised in the soul, giving it an immediate calm
and security, it knows his divine power, and rejoices in his presence.
5. He seals us. " We are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise,
Eph. i. 13; and, " Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed
unto the day of redemption," chap. iv. 30. I am not very clear in the
certam pecuUar intendment of this metaphor; what I am persuaded
of the mind of God in it I shaU briefly impart. In a seal two things
are considered : — (1.) The nature of it . (2.) The use of it.
(1.) The nature of sealing consists in the imparting of the image
•or character of the seal to the thing sealed. This is to seal a thing,
— to stamp the character of thevseal on it. In this sense, the effectual
communication of the image of God unto us should be our sealing.
The Spfrit in believers, really communicating the image of God, in
righteousness and trae hoUness, unto the spul, sealeth us. To have
this stamp of the Holy Ghost, so as to be an evidence unto the soul
that it is accepted with God, is to be sealed by the Spfrit; taking the
metaphor from the nature of seahng.1 And in this sense is our
Saviour said to be sealed of God, John vi 27, even from that impres
sion of the power, wisdom, and majesty of God that he had upon
him in the discharge of his office.
(2.) The end of sealing is twofold : —
[1.] To confirm or ratify any grant or conveyance made in writing.
In such cases men set thefr seals to make good and confirm their
grants; and when this is done they are irrevocable. Or to confirm
the testimony that is, given by any one of the truth of any thing.
Suqh was the manner among the Jews : — when any one had given
true witness unto any thing or matter, and it was received by the
judges, they instantly set thefr seals to it, to confirm it in judgment.
Hence it is said, that he who receives the testimony of Christ " sets to
his seal that God is true," John Ui. 33. The promise is the great grant
and conveyance of life and salvation in Christ to the souls of believers.
That we may have fuU assurance of the truth and irrevocableness of
1 Rev. vii. 4.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 243
the promise, God gives us the Spfrit to satisfy our hearts of it ; and
thence is he said to seal us, by assuring our hearts of those promises
and their stabiUty. But, though many expositors go this way, I do
not see how this can consist with the very meaning of the word. It
is not said that the promise is sealed, but that we are sealed; and
when we seal a deed or grant to any one, we do not say the man is
sealed, but the deed or grant.
[2.] To appropriate, distinguish, or keep safe. This is the end of
sealing. Men set thefr seals on that which they appropriate and desire
to keep safe for themselves. So, evidently, in this sense are the ser
vants of God said to be sealed, Rev. vii. 4; that is, marked with God's
mark, as his peculiar ones, — for this sealing answers to the setting of a
mark, Ezek. ix. 4. Then are believers sealed, when they are marked
for God to be heirs of the purchased inheritance, and to be preserved
to the day of redemption. Now, if this be the sealing intended, it
denotes not an act of sense in the heart, but of security to the person.
The Father gives the elect into the hands of Christ to be redeemed ;
having redeemed them, in due time they are caUed by the Spirit,
and marked for God, and so give up themselves to the hands of the
Father. If you ask, now, " Which of these senses is chiefly intended in this
expression of our being sealed by the Holy Ghost?" I answer, The
first, not excluding the other. We are sealed to the day of redemp
tion, when, from the stamp, image, and character of the Spirit upon
our souls, we have a fresh sense of the love of God given to us, with
a comfortable persuasion of our acceptation with him. But of this
whole matter I have treated at large1 elsewhere.
Thus, then, the Holy Ghost communicates unto us his own like
ness; which is also the image of the Father and the Son. " We are
changed into this image by the Lord the Spirit," 2 Cor. iii. ] 8 ; and
herein he brings us into fellowship with himself. Our likeness to
him gives us boldness with him. His work we look for, his fruits
We pray for; and when any effect of grace, any discovery of the image
of Christ implanted in us, gives us a persuasion of our being sepa
rated and set apart for God, we have a communion with him therein.
6. He is an earnest unto us. 2 Cor. i. 22, He hath " given the
earnest of the Spfrit in our hearts;" chap. v. 5, "Who also hath
given unto us the earnest of the Spirit;" as also, Eph. L 13, 14, "Ye
are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of
our inheritance." In the two former places we are said to have the
earnest of the Spfrit; iu the latter, the Spfrit is said to be our ear
nest : " of the Spfrit," then, in the first place, is, as we say, " genitivus
r_ iteriae;" denoting not the cause, but the thing itseff, — not the author
1 Perseverance of the Saints, chap, viii., vol. xi.

244 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
of the earnest, but the matter of it. The Spirit is our earnest; as in
the last place is expressed. The consideration of what is meant by
the " Spirit," here, and what is meant by an " earnest," wUl give some
insight into this privUege, which we receive by the Comforter : —
(1.) What grace, what gift of the Spirit, is intended by this earnest,
some have made inquiry; I suppose to no purpose. It is the Spirit
himself, personally considered, that is said to be this earnest, 2 Cor.
i. 22. It is God hath given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts:
an expression directly answering that of Gal. iv. 6, " God hath sent
forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts;" — that is, the person of
the Spirit; fof nothing else can be called the Spirit of his Son: and
in Eph. L 14, he hath given the Spirit-(os for 2) ; which is that earnest.
The Spirit of promise himself is this earnest. In giving us this Spirit
he gives us this earnest.
(2.) An earnest it is, — appaZ&v. Neither the Greek nor the Latin
has any word to express directly what is here intended. The Latins
have made words for it, from that expressed here in the Greek,
" arrha" and " arrabo." The Greek word is but the Hebrew "herabon"
[P^J?] ; which, as some conceive, came amongst them by the Tyrian
merchants, being a word of trade. It is by some rendered, in Latin,
" pignus," a " pledge ;" but this cannot be here intended. A pledge
is that property which any one gives or leaves in the custody of
another, to assure him that he wUl give him, or pay him, some other
thing ; in the nature of that which we caU a " pawn." Now, the thing
that is here intended, is a part of that which is to come, and but a
part of it, according to the trade use of the word, whence the meta
phor is taken; it is excellently rendered in our language, an " earnest."
An earnest is part of the price of any thing, or part of any grant,
given beforehand to assure the person to whom it is given that at
the appointed season he shall receive the whole that is promised him.
That a thing be an earnest, it is requfred, —
[1.] That it be part of the whole, of the same kind and nature with
it; as we do give so much money in earnest to pay so much more.
[2.] That it be a confirmation of a promise and appointment;
first the whole is promised, then the earnest is given for the good
and true performance of that promise.
Thus the Spirit is this earnest. God gives us the promise of eter
nal life. To confirm this to us, he giveth us his Spirit ; which is, as
the first part of the promise, to secure us of the whole. Hence he is
said to be the earnest of the inheritance that is promised and purchased.
And it may be considered how it may be said to be an earnest on
the part of God, who gives him; and on the part of beUevers, who
receive him: —
1st He is an earnest on the part of God, in that God gives him

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 245
as a choice part of the inheritance itself, and of the same kind with
tht whole, as an earnest ought to be. The full inheritance promised,
is the fulness of the Spirit in the enjoyment of God. When that
Spirit which is given us in this world shall have perfectly taken away
all sin and sorrow, and shall have made us able to enjoy the glory
of God in his presence, that is the full inheritance promised. So
that the Spirit given us for the fitting of us for enjoyment of God in
some measure, whilst we are here, is the earnest of the whole.
God doth it to this purpose, to assure us and secure us of the in
heritance. Having given us so many Securities without us, — his word,
promises, covenant, oath, the revelation and discovery of his faithful
ness and immutability in them all, — he is pleased also graciously to
give us one within us, Isa. lix. 21, that we may have all the security
we are capable of. What can more be done? He hath given us of
the Holy Spirit; — in him the first-fruits of glory, the utmost pledge
of his love, the earnest of all.
2dly. On the part of believers he is an earnest, in that he gives
them an acquaintance with,- — -
(1st) The love of God. Thefr acceptation with him makes known
to them thefr favour in his sight, — that he is thefr Father, and will deal
with them as with children ; and consequently, that the inheritance
shall be theirs. He sends his Spfrit into our hearts, " crying, Abba,
Father," Gal. iv. 6. And what is the inference of believers from hence ?
Verse 7, " Then we are not servants, but sons ; and if sons, then heirs
of God." The same apostle, again, Rom. viii. 1 7, " If children, then
heirs ; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." On that persuasion
of the Spirit that we are children, the inference is, " Then heirs, heirs
of God, and joint heirs with Christ." We have, then, a right to an
inheritance, and an eviction of it. This is the use, then, we have of
it, — even the Spirit persuading us of our sonship and acceptation with
God our Father. And what is this inheritance of glory? "If we suf
fer with him, we shall be glorified together." And that the Spirit is
given for this end is attested, 1 John Ui. 24, " Hereby we know that
he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." The apostle
is speaking of our union with God, which he expresseth in the words
foregoing : " He that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him,
and he in him;" — of that union elsewhere. Now, this we know from
hence, even by the Spirit which he hath given us, — the Spfrit
acquaints us with it. Not that we have such an acquaintance, but
that the argument is good and conclusive in itself, " We have of the
Spirit; therefore he dwells in us, and we in him:" because, indeed,
his dwelhng in us is by that Spirit, and our interest in him is from
thence. A sense of this he giveth as he pleaseth.
1 Heb. vi. 17, 18.

246 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
(2dly.) The Spirit being given as- an earnest, acquaints believers
with their inheritance, 1 Cor. U. 9, 10. As an earnest, being part of
the whole, gives knowledge of it, so doth the Spirit; as in sundry par
ticulars might be demonstrated.
So is he in all respects completely an earnest, — given of God, re
ceived by us, as the beginning of our inheritance, and the assurance
of it. So much as we have of the Spirit, so much we have of heaven
in* perfect enjoyment, and so much evidence of its future fulness.
Under this apprehension of him in the dispensation of grace do
believers receive him and rejoice in him. Every gracious, self-evi
dencing act of his in their hearts they rejoice in, as a drop from
heaven, and long for the ocean of it. Not to drive every effect of
grace to this issue, is to neglect the wprk of the Holy Ghost in us and
towards us.
There remains only that a difference be, in a few words, assigned
between believers receiving the Spirit as an earnest of the whole
inheritance, and hypocrites " tasting of the powers of the world tc
come," Heb. vi. 5. A taste of the powers of the world to come seeing
to be the same with the earnest of the inheritance. But, —
[1st] That by " the powers of the world to come " in that place
is intended the joys of heaven, there is, indeed, no ground to imagine.
They are nowhere so called; nor doth it suitably express the glory
that shaU be revealed, which we shall be made partakers of. It is,
doubtless, the powerful ministry of the ordinances and dispensations
pf the times of the gospel (there called to the Hebrews according to
thefr own idiom), the powers or great effectual things of the world to
oome, that is intended. But, —
[2a7?/.] Suppose that by " the powers of the world to come " the
glory of heaven is intended, there is a wide difference between tak
ing a vanishing taste of it ourselves, and receiving an abiding ear
nest from God. To take a taste of the things of heaven, and to have
them assured of God as from his love, differ greatly. A hypocrite
may have his thoughts raised to a great deal of joy and contentment
in the consideration of the good things of the kingdom of God for a
season, considering the things in themselves; but the Spfrit, as he is
an earnest, gives us a pledge of them as provided for us in the love
of God and purchase of his Son Jesus Christ. This by the way.
7. The Spfrit anoints believers. We are " anointed" by the Spirit,
2 Cor. L 21. We have " an unction from the Hply One, and we
know all things," 1 John ii. 20, 27. I cannot intend to run this ex
pression up into its rise and original; also, I have done it elsewhere
The use of unctions in the Judaical church, the meaning and intend
ment of the types attended therewith, the offices that men were con
secrated unto thereby, are at the bottom of this expressiea; nearer

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 247
the unction of Jesus Christ (from whence he is called Messiah, and
the Christ, the whole performance of his office of mediatorship being
called also his anointing, Dan. ix. 24, as to his furnishment for it), con
curs hereunto. Christ is said to be " anointed with the oil of gladness
above his fellows," Heb. i 9 ; which is the same with that of John
iii. 34, " God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." We, who
have the Spirit by measure, are anointed with the " oil of gladness;"
Christ hath the fulness of the Spirit, whence our measure is commu
nicated : so he is anointed above us, " that in all things he may have
the pre-eminence." How Christ was anointed with the Spfrit to his
threefold office of king, priest, and prophet; how, by virtue of an unc
tion, "with the same Spirit dwelling in him and us, we become to be
interested in these offices of his, and are made also kings, priests, and
prophets to God, is known, and would be matter of a long discourse
to handle ; and my design is only to communicate the things treated of.
I shall only, therefore, fix on one place, where the communications
of the Spfrit in this unction of Christ are enumerated, — of which, in
our measure, from him and with him, by this unction, we are made
partakers, — and that is, Isa. xi. 2, 3, "The Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of
counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the
Loed," etc. Many oi-the endowments oi Christ, from the Spirit
wherewith he was abundantly anointed, are here recounted. Princi-
paUy those of wisdom, counsel, and understanding, are insisted on;
on the account whereof aU the treasures of wisdom and knowledge -
are said to be in him, Col. U. 3. And though this be but some part
of the furniture of Jesus Christ for the discharge of his office, yet it
is such, as, where our anointing to the same purpose is mentioned, it
is said peculiarly on effecting of such qualifications as these : so 1 John
U. 20, 27, the work of the anointing is to teach us; the Spfrit therein
is a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel, knowledge, and
quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. So was the great pro
mise of the Comforter, that he should "teach us," John xiv. 26, — that
he should "guide us into all truth," chap. xvi. 13. This of teaching us
the mind and wiU of God, in the manner wherein we are taught it by
the Spirit,- our comforter, is an eminent part of our unction by him ;
which only I shall instance in. Give me leave to say, there is a
threefold teaching by the Spirit : —
(1.) A teaching by the Spirit of conviction and Ulumination. So
the Spirit teacheth the world (that is, many in it) by the preaching
of the word ; as he is promised to do, John xvi. 8.
(2.) A teaching by the Spirit of sanctification; opening blind eyes,
giving a new understanding, shining into our hearts, to give us a
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ ; enabling

248 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
us to receive spiritual things in a spiritual light, 1 Cor. ii. 13; giving
a saving knowledge of the mystery of the gospel: and this.in several
degrees is common to believers.
(3.) A teaching by the Spirit of consolation; — making sweet, useful,
and joyful to the soul, the discoveries that are made of the mind and
will of God in the Ught of the Spfrit of sanctification. Here the oU
of the Spirit is called the " oil of gladness," — that which brings joy
and gladness with it; and the name of Christ thereby discovered is a
sweet " ointment poured forth," that causeth souls to run after him
with joy and delight, Cant. i. 3. We see it by daily experience, that
very many have little taste and sweetness and relish in their souls of
those truths which yet they savingly know and beUeve; but when we
are taught by this unction, oh, how sweet is every thing we know of
God ! As we may see in the place of John where mention is made
of the teaching of this unction; it respects peculiarly the Spirit teach
ing of us the love of God in Christ, the shining of his countenance;
which, as David speaks, puts gladness into our hearts, Ps. iv. 6, 7.
We have this, then, by the Spirit : — he teacheth us of the love of
God in Christ; he makes every gospel truth as wine well refined to
our souls, and the good things of it to be a feast of fat things; — gives
us joy and gladness of heart with all that we know of God ; which
is the great preservative of the soul to keep it close to truth. The
apostle speaks of our teaching by this unction, as the means whereby
we are preserved from seduction. Indeed, to know any truth in the
power, sweetness, joy, and gladness of it, is that great security of the
soul's constancy in the preservation and retaining of it. They wUl
readily change truth for error, who find no more sweetness in the one
than in the other. I must crave the reader's pardon for my brief
passing over these great things of the gospel; my present design is
rather to enumerate than to unfold them. This one work of the Holy
Ghost, might it be pursued, would require a fuller discourse than I
can allot unto the whole matter in hand. All the privUeges we enjoy,
all the dignity and honour we are invested withal, our whole dedi
cation unto God, our nobility and royalty, our interest in all church
advantages and approaches to God in worship, our separation from
the world, the name whereby we are called, the liberty we enjoy, — aU
flow from this head, all are branches of this effect of the Holy Ghost.
I have mentioned only our teaching by this unction, — a teaching that
brings joy and gladness with it, by giving the heart a sense of the
truth wherein we are instructed. When we find any of the good
truths of the gospel come home to our souls with hfe, vigour, and
power, giving us gladness of heart, transforming us into the image
and likeness of it, — the Holy Ghost is then at his work, is pouring
out of his oil

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 249
8. We have adoption also by the Spirit; hence he is called the
" Spirit of adoption ;" that is, either he who is given to adopted ones,
to secure them of it, to beget in their hearts a sense and persuasion
of the Father's adopting love ; or else to give them the privilege itself,
as is iritimated, John i 12. Neither is that opposite hereunto which
we have, Gal. iv. 6 ; for God may send the Spirit of supplication into
our hearts, because we are sons, and yet adopted by his Spfrit. But
of this elsewhere.
9. He is also called the "Spirit of supplication ;" under which
notion he is promised, Zech. xU. 10; and how he effects that in us is
declared, Rom. vui. 26, 27, Gal. iv. 6 ; and we are thence said to " pray
in the Holy Ghost." Our* prayers may be considered two ways: — ¦
(1.) First, as a spiritual duty required of us by God ; and so they
are wrought in us by the Spirit of sanctification, which helps us to
perform aU our duties, by exalting all the faculties of the soul for the
spiritual discharge of thefr respective offices in them.
(2.) As a means of retaining communion with God, whereby we
sweetly ease our hearts in the bosom of the Father, and receive in
refreshing tastes of his love. The soul is never more raised with the
love of God than when by the Spfrit taken into intimate communion
with him in the discharge of this duty; and therein it belongs to the
Spirit of consolation, to the Spfrit promised as a comforter. And this
is the next thing to be considered in our communion with the Holy
Ghost, — namely, what are the peculiar effects which he worketh in
us, and towards us, being so bestowed on us as was declared, and
working in the way and manner "insisted on. Now, these are, — his
bringing the promises of Christ to remembrance, glorifying him in
our hearts, shedding abroad the love of God in us, witnessing with us
as to our spiritual estate and condition, sealing us to the day of re
demption (being the earnest of our inheritance), anointing us with
privileges as to thefr consolation, confirming our adoption, and being
present with us in our supplications. Here is the wisdom of faith, —
to find out and meet with the Comforter in all these things ; not to
lose their sweetness, by lying in the dark [as] to thefr author, nor
coming short of the returns which are required of us.

CHAPTER IV.
The general consequences in the hearts of beUevers of the effects of the Holy
Ghost before mentioned — Consolation; its adjuncts, peace, joy — How it is
wrought immediately, mediately.
Having proceeded thus! far in discovering the way of our commu
nion with the Holy Ghost, and insisted on the most noble and known

250 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
effects that he produceth, it remains that it be declared what general
consequences of these effects there are brought forth in the hearts of
believers; and so we shall at least have made mention of the main
heads of his dispensation and work in the economy of grace. Now,
these (as with the former) I shall do little more than name ; it being
not at all in my design to handle the natures of them, but only to
show what respects they bear to the business in hand : —
1. Consolation is the first of these : " The disciples walked in the
fear of the Lord, and in the consolation of the Holy Ghost," Acts -
ix. 31, Tr\ irapaxXqeti rou ayiov Uveb/j,arog. He is o ieapdxXr)Tog, and
he gives TapdxXttmv : from his work towards us, and in us, we have
comfort and consolation. This is the first general consequent of
his dispensation and work. Whenever there is mention made of
comfort and consolation in the Scripture given to the saints (as there
is most frequeritly), it is the proper consequent of the work of the
Holy Ghost towards them. Comfort or consolation in general, is the
setting and composing of the soul in rest and contentedness in the
midst of or from troubles, by the consideration or presence of some
good, wherein it is interested, outweighing the evil, trouble, or per
plexity that it hath to wrestle withal. Where mention is made of com
fort and consolation, properly so called, there is relation to trouble or
perplexity; so the apostle, 2 Cor. L 5, 6, " As the sufferings of Christ
abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ." Suffer
ing and consolation are opposed, the latter being a reUef against the
former ; so are all the promises of comfort, and all the expressions of it,
in the Old and New Testament stUl proposed as reUefs against trouble.
And, as I said, consolation ariseth from the presence or considera
tion of a greater good, that outbalances the evil or perplexity where
with we are to contend. Now, in the effects or acts of the Holy Ghost
before mentioned lie all the springs of our consolation. There is no
comfort but from them; and there. is no trouble that we may not
have comfort in and against by them. That a man may have con
solation in any condition, nothing is requfred but the presence of a
good, rendering the evil wherewith he is pressed inconsiderable to
him. Suppose a man under the greatest calamity that can possibly
befall a chUd of God, or a confluence of all those evUs numbered by
Paul, Rom. vUL 35, etc.; let this man have the Holy Ghost perform
ing the works mentioned before towards him, and, in despite of all
his evUs, his consolations wiU abound. Suppose him to have a sense
.of the love of God all the whUe shed abroad in his heart, a clear
witness within that he is a child of God, accepted with him, that he
is sealed and marked of God for his own, that he is an heir of all the
promises of God, and the like; it is impossible that man should not
triumph in all his tribulations.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 251
From this rise of all our consolation are those descriptions which
we have of it in the Scripture, from its properties and adjuncts; as, —
(1.) It is abiding. Thence it is called "Everlasting consolation,"
2 Thess. ii 1 6, " God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and given
us everlasting consolation;" — that is, comfort that vanisheth not; and
that because it riseth from everlasting things. There may be. some
perishing comfort given for a Uttle season by perishing things ; but
abiding consolation, which we have by the Holy Ghost, is from things
everlasting : — everlasting love, eternal redemption, an everlasting
inheritance. (2.) Strong. Heb. vi. 18, "That the heirs of the promise should
receive strong consolation." As strong opposition lies sometimes
against us, and trouble, whose bands are strong, so is our consolation
strong ; it abounds, and is unconquerable, — lexvpi. vapaxXqisis. It is
such as will make its way through all opposition ; it confirms, corro
borates, and strengthens the heart under any evil ; it fortifies the soul,
and makes it able cheerfully to undergo any thing that it is caUed
unto : and that because it is from him who is strong.
(3.) It is precious. Hence the apostle makes it the great motive
unto obedience, which he exhorts the Philippians unto, chap. ii. 1,
" If there be any consolation in Christ ;" — " If you set any esteem and
valuation upon this precious mercy of consolation in Christ, by those
comforts, let it be so with you."
And this, is the first general consequent in the hearts of believers
of those great effects of the Holy Ghost before mentioned. Now,
this is so large and comprehensive, comprising so many of our con
cernments in our walking with God, that the Holy Ghost receives
his denomination, as to the whole work he hath to perform for us,
from hence, — he is the Comforter; as Jesus Christ, from the work of
redemption and salvation, is the Redeemer and Saviour of his church.
Now, as we have no consolation but from the Holy Ghost, so all his
effects towards us have certainly this consequent more or less in
us. Yea, I dare say, whatever we have in the; kinds of the things
before mentioned that brings not consolation with it, in the root at
least, if not in the ripe fruit, is not of the Holy Ghost. The way
whereby comfort issues out from those works of his, belongs to par
ticular cases. The feUowship we have with him consists, in no small
portion of it, in the consolation we receive from him. This gives us
a valuation of his love; teacheth whither to make applications in our
distress, — whom to pray for, to pray to, — whom to wait upon, in per
plexities. 2. Peace ariseth hence also. Rom. xv. 13, " The God of hope fill
you with all peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through
the power of the Holy Ghost." The power of the Holy Ghost is not

252 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
only extended to hope, but to our peace also in believing. So is it
in the connection of those promises, John xiv. 26, 27, " I will give you
the Comforter:" and what then? what follows that grant? " Peace,"
saith he, " I leave with you ; my peace I give unto you." Nor doth
Christ otherwise leave his peace, or give his peace unto them, but by
bestowing the Comforter on them. The peace of Christ consists in
the soul's sense of its acceptation with God in friendship. So is Christ
said to be " our peace," Eph. ii. 14, by slaying tbe enmity between
God and us, and in taking away the handwriting that was against us.
Rom. v. 1, " Being justified by faith, we have peace with God." A
comfortable persuasion of our acceptation with God in Christ is the
bottom of this peace; it inwraps dehverance from eternal wrath,
hatred, curse, condemnation, — all sweetly affecting the soul and con
science. And this is a branch from the same root with that foregoing, — a
consequent of the effects of the Holy Ghost before mentioned. Sup
pose a man chosen in the eternal love of the Father, redeemed by
the blood of the Son, and justified freely by the grace of God, so that
he hath a right to all the promises of the gospel ; yet this person can
by no reasonings nor arguings of his own heart, by no considerations
of the promises themselves, nor of the love of God or grace of Christ
in them, be brought to any establishment in peace, until it be pro
duced in him as a fruit and consequent of the work of the Holy
Ghost in him and towards him. " Peace" is the fruit of the Spirit,
Gal. v. 22. The savour of the Spfrit is " life and peace," Rom. viU. 6.
AU we have is from him and by him.
3. Joy, also, is of this number. The Spirit, as was showed, is called
" The oil of gladness," Heb. L 9. His anointing brings gladness with
it, Isa. lxL 3, " The oil of joy for mourning." " The kingdom of God
is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost," Rom. xiv. 17;
" Received the wOrd with joy in the Holy Ghost," 1 Thess. i. 6, —
" with joy," as Peter tells believers, " unspeakable and full of glory,"
1 Epist. i 8. To give joy to the hearts of believers is eminently the
work of the Comforter; and this he doth by the particulars before
instanced in. That " rejoicing in hope of the glory of God," mentioned
Rom. v. 2, which carries the soul through any tribulation, even with
glorying, hath its rise in the Spirit's " shedding abroad the love of
God in our hearts," verse 5. Now, there are two ways whereby the
Spirit worketh this joy in the hearts of beUevers: —
(1.) He doth it immediately by himself; without the consideration
of any other acts or -works of his, or the interposition of any reason
ings, or deductions and conclusions. As in sanctification he is a
well of water springing up in the soul, immediately exerting his effi
cacy and refreshment; so in consolation, he immediately works the

OF COMMUNION WITH l'HE HOLY GHOST. 253
soul and minds of men to a joyful, rejoicing, and spiritual frame, filling
them with exultation and gladness; — not that this arises from our
r'eflex consideration of the love of God, but rather gives occasion
thereunto. When he so sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts,
and so fiUs them with gladness by an immediate act and operation
(as he caused John Baptist to leap for joy in the womb upon the
approach of the mother of Jesus),— then doth the soul, even from
hence, raise itself to a consideration of the love of God, whence joy
and rejoicing doth also flow. Of this joy there is no account to be
given, but that the Spfrit worketh it when and how he will. He
secretly infuseth and distUs it into the soul, prevailing against all fears
and sorrows, filling it with gladness, exultations ; and sometimes with
unspeakable raptures of mind.
(2.) Mediately. By his other works towards us, he gives a sense
of the love of God, with our adoption and acceptation with him; and
on the consideration thereof enables us to receive it. Let what hath
been spoken of his operations towards us be considered, — what assur
ance he gives us of the love of God; what life, power, and security;
what pledge of our eternal welfare, — and it wUl be easily perceived that
he lays a sufficient foundation of this joy and gladness. Not that we
are able, upon any rational consideration, deduction, or conclusion,
that we can make from the things mentioned, to affect our hearts
with the joy and gladness intended ; it is left no less the proper work
of the Spirit to do it from hence, and by the intervenience of these
considerations, than to do it immediately without them. This pro
cess of producing joy in the heart, we have, Ps. xxhi. 5, 6, " Thou
anointest my head with oii" Hence is the conclusion, as in the way
of exultation, " Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me." Of this
effect of the Comforter, see Isa. xxxv. throughout.
4. Hope, also, is an effect of those workings of the Holy Ghost in us
and towards us, Rom. xv. 13. These, I say, are the general conse
quents of the effects of the Holy Ghpst upon the hearts of beUevers;
which, if we might consider them in their offspring, with all the
branches that shoot out from them, in exultation, assurance, boldness,
confidence, expectation, glorying, and the Uke, it would appear how
far our whole communion with God is influenced by them. But I
only name the heads of things, and hasten to what remains. It is the
general and particular way of our communion with the Holy Ghost
that should nextly ensue, but that some other considerations neces
sarily do here interpose themselves.

254 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST.

CHAPTER V.
Some observations and inferences from discourses foregoing concerning the Spirit
— The contempt of the whole administration of the Spirit by some — The vain
pretence of the Spirit by others — The false spirit discovered.
This process being made, I should now show immediately, how we
hold the communion proposed with the Holy Ghost, in the things
laid down and manifested to contain his peculiar work towards us;
but there are some miscarriages in the world in reference unto this
dispensation of the Holy Ghost, both on the one hand and the other,
in contempt of his true work and pretence of that which is not, that
I cannot but remark in my passage : which to do shall be the busi
ness of this chapter.
Take a view, then, of the state and condition of them who, pro
fessing to ,believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, do yet contemn and
despise his Spirit, as to all its operations, gifts, graces, and dispensa
tions to his churches and saints. Whilst Christ was in the world with
his disciples, he made them no greater promise, neither in respect of
their own good nor of carrying on the work which he had committed
to them, than this of giving them the Holy Ghost. Him he instruct-
eth them to pray for of the Father, as that which is needful for them,
as bread for children, Luke xi. 13. Him he promiseth them, as a
well of water springing up in them, for their refreshment, strength
ening, and consolation unto everlasting life, John vU. 37-39; as also
to carry on and accomplish the whole work of the ministry to them
committed, John xvi. 8-11 ; with aU those emment works and privi
leges before mentioned. And upon his ascension, this is laid as the
bottom of that glorious communication of gifts and graces in his plen
tiful effusion mentioned, Eph. iv. 8, 11, 12, — namely, that he had
received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, Act U. 33 ;
and that in such an eminent manner as thereby to make the greatest
and most glorious difference between the administration of the new
covenant and old. Especially doth the whole work of the ministry
relate to the Holy Ghost ; though that be not my present business to
evince. He caUs men to that work, and they are separated unto him,
Acts xiU. 2 ; he furnisheth them with gifts and abUities for that em
ployment, ^Cor. xn. 7-10. So that the whole religion we profess,
without this administration of the Spirit, is nothing; nor is there any
fruit without it of the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
This being the state of things, — that in our worship of and obedi- '
ence to God, in our own consolation, sanctification, and ministerial em
ployment, the Spirit is the principle, the life, soul, the all of the
whole; yet so desperate hath been the malice of Satan, and wicked-

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST. 255
ness of men, that their great endeavour hath been to shut him quite
out of all gospel administrations.
First, his gifts and graces were not only decried, but almost ex
cluded from the public worship of the church, by the imposition of
an operose form of service, to be read by the minister; which to do
is neither a peculiar gift of the Holy Ghost to any, nor of the ministry
at all. It is marvellous to consider what pleas and pretences were
invented and used by learned men, — from its antiquity, its compo
sure and approbation by martyrs, the beauty of uniformity in the
worship of God, estabUshed and pressed thereby, etc., — for the defence
and maintenance of it. But the main argument they insisted on,
and the chief field wherein they expatiated and laid out all their
eloquence, was the vain babbling repetitions and folly of men pray
ing by the Spirit. When once this was fallen upon, all (at least as
they supposed) was carried away before them, and their adversaries
rendered sufficiently ridiculous : so great is the cunning of Satan, and
so unsearchable are the follies of the hearts of men. The sum of all
these reasonings amounts to no more but this, — " Though the Lord
Jesus Christ hath promised the Holy Ghost to be with his church to
the end of the world, to fit and furnish men with gifts and abilities
for the carrying on of that worship which he requires and accepteth
at our hands, yet the work is not done to the purpose ; the gifts he
bestows are not sufficient to that end, neither as to invocation nor
dpctrine : and, therefore, we wUl not only help men by our directions,
but exclude them from thefr exercise." This, I say, was the sum of
all, as I could undeniably evidence, were that my present business.
What innumerable evUs ensue on this principle, in a formal setting
apart of men to the ministry who had never once "tasted of the
powers of the world to come," nor received any gifts from the Holy
Ghost to that purpose ; of crying up and growing in an outside pom
pous worship, wholly foreign to the power and simplicity of the gos
pel; of silencing, destroying, banishing, men whose ministry was
accompanied with the evidence and demonstration of the Spfrit, — I
shall not need to declare. This is that I aim at, to point out the
public contempt of the Holy Ghost, his gifts and graces, with their
administration in the church of God, that hath been found even where
the gospel hath been professed.
Again: it is a thing of most sad consideration, once to call to mind
the improvement of that principle of contempt of the Spirit m private
men and thefr ways. The name of the Spfrit was grown a term of
reproach. To plead for, or pretend to pray by, the Spirit, was enough
to render a man the object of scorn and reproach from all sorts of
men, from the pulpit to the stage. " What ! youare full of the Spirit ;
you wUl pray by the Spirit; you have the gift: let us hear your non-

256 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
sense ; " — and yet, perhaps, these men would think themselves wronged
not to be accounted Christians. Christians ! yea, have not some pre
tending themselves to be leaders of the flock, — yea, mounted a storey
or two above their brethren, and claiming a rule and government
over them, — made it their business to scoff at and reproach the gifts
of the Spirit of God? And if this were the frame of thefr spfrit,
what might be expected from others of professed profaneness? It is
not imaginable to what height of blasphemy the process in this kind
amounted. The Lord grant there be nothing of this cursed leaven
still remaining amongst us ! Some Heatings of ill importance1 are
sometimes heard. Is this the fellowship of the Holy Ghost that be
Uevers are caUed unto ? Is this the due entertainment of him whom
our Saviour promised to send for the supply of his bodUy absence, so
as we might be no losers thereby? Is it not enough that men should
be contented with such a stupid bhndness, as, being caUed Christians,
to look no farther for their comfort and consolation than moral con
siderations common to heathens would lead them, when one infinitely
holy and blessed person of the Trinity hath taken this office upon
him to be our comforter, but they must oppose and despise him
also? Nothing more discovers how few there are in the world that
have interest in that blessed name whereby we are aU called. But
this is no place to pursue this discourse. The aim of this discourse
is, to evince the foUy and madness of men in general, who profess to
own the gospel of Christ, and yet condemn and despise his Spirit, in
whomsoever he is manifested Let us be zealous of the gifts of the
Spfrit, not envieus at them.
From what hath been discoursed we may also try the spirits that
are gone abroad in the world, and which have been exercising them
selves, at several seasons, ever since the ascension of Christ. The
iniquity of the generation that is past and passing away lay in open,
cursed opposition to the Holy Ghost. God hath been above them,
wherein they behaved themselves presumptuously. Satan, whose
design, as he is god of this world, is to be uppermost, not to dweU
wholly in any form cast down by the providence of God, hath now
transformed himself into an angel of Ught; and he wUl pretend the
Spfrit also and only. But there are " seducing spirits," 1 Tim. iv. 1 ;
and we have a " command not to believe every spirit, but try the
spirits," 1 John iv. 1 : and the reason added is, " Because many false
prophets are gone out into the world;" — that is, men pretending to the
revelation of new doctrines by the Spirit; whose deceits in the first
church Paul intimateth, 2 Thess. ii. 2; calling on men not to be
" shaken in mind by spirit." The truth is, the spirits of these days are
so gross, that a man of a very easy discerning may find them out;
1 Importance, in an obsolete sense of the word, import or meaning.  Ed.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST. 257
and yet their delusion so strong, that not a few are deceived. This
is one thing that lies evident to every eye, — that, according to his
wonted course, Satan, with his delusions, is run into an extreme to
his former actings.
Not long since, his great design, as I manifested, was to cry up
ordinances without the Spirit, casting all the reproach that he could
upon him ; — now, to cry up a spfrit without and against ordinances,
casting all reproach and contempt possible upon them. Then, he
would have a ministry without the Spirit; — now, a Spirit without a
ministry. Then, the reading of the word might suffice, without either
preaching or praying by the Spirit; — now, the Spirit is enough, with
out reading or studying the word at all. Then, he allowed a literal
embracing of what Christ had done in the flesh; — now, he talks of
Christ in the Spirit only, and denies him to be come in the flesh, —
the proper character of the false spirit we are warned of, 1 John iv. 1.
Now, because it is most certain that the Spfrit which we are to hear
and embrace is the Spirit promised by Christ (which is so clear, that
him the Montanists' paraclete, yea, and Mohammed, pretended him
self to be, and those of our days affirm, who pretend the same), let
us briefly try them by some of the effects mentioned, which Christ
hath promised to give the Holy Ghost for: —
The first general effect, as was observed, was this, — that he should
bring to remembrance the things that Christ spake, for our guidance
and consolation. This was to be the work of the Holy Ghost to
wards the. apostles, who were to be the penmen of the Scriptures:
this is to be his work towards believers to the end of the world. Now,
the things that Christ hath spoken and done are " written that we
might believe, and beUeving, have life through his name," John xx.
31 ; they are written in the Scripture. This, then, is the work of the
Spfrit which Christ hath promised; — he shall bring to our remem
brance, and give us understanding of the words of Christ in tho
Scripture, for our guidance and consolation. Is this, now, the work
of the spirit which is abroad in the world, and perverteth many?
Nothing less. His business is, to decry the things that Christ hath
spoken which are written in the word; to pretend new revelations
of his pwn; to lead men from the written word, wherein the whole
work of God and all the promises of Christ are recorded.
Again : the work of the Spirit promised by Christ is to glorify him :
" He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shaU show it
unto you," John xvi. 14. Him who was to suffer at Jerusalem, who
then spake to his disciples, it was to make him glorious, honourable,
and of high esteem in the hearts of beUevers ; and that by showing his
things (his love, kindness, grace, and purchase) unto them. This is
the work of the Spirit. The work of the spirit that is gone abroad,
vol. n. 11

258 OF COMMUNION WITH, THE HOLT GHOST.
is to glorify itself, to decry and render contemptible Christ that
suffered for us, under the name of a Christ without us; which it
slights and despiseth, and that professedly. Its ©wn glory, its own ho
nour, is all that it aims at; whoUy inverting the order of the divine
dispensations. The fountain of all being and lying in the Father's
fove, the Son came to glorify the Father. He stUl says, " I seek not
mine own glory, but the glory of him that sent me." The Son having
carried on the work of redemption, was now to be glorified with the
Father. So he prays that it might be, John xvu. 1, " The hour is
come, glorify thy Son;" and that with the glory which he had before
the world was, when his joint counsel was in the carrying on the Father's
love. Wherefore the Holy Ghost is sent, and his work is to glorify the
Son. But now, as I said, we have a spirit come forth whose whole busi
ness is to glorify himself; whereby we may easUy know whence he is.
Furthermore : the Holy Ghost sheds abroad the love of God in our
hearts, as was declared, and thence fills them with joy, peace, and
hope; quieting and refreshing the hearts of them in whom he dweUs;
giving them Uberty and rest, confidence, and the boldness of chUdren.
This spfrit whereof men now boast is a spfrit of bondage, whose ut
most work is to make men quake and tremble ; casting them into an
un-son-like frame of spirit, driving them up and down with horror and
bondage, and drinking up thefr very natural spirits, and making
their whole man wither away. There is scarce any one thing that
more evidently manifesteth the spfrit whereby some are now acted
not to be the Comforter promised by Christ, than this, — that he is
a spirit of bondage and slavery in them in whom he is, and a spirit
©f cruelty and reproach towards others ; in a direct opposition to the
Holy Ghost in believers, and all the ends and purposes for which, as
a spirit of adoption and consolation, he is bestowed on them.
To give one instance more : the Holy Ghost bestowed on beUevers
is a Spirit of prayer and suppUcation ; as was manifested. The spfrit
wherewith we have to do, pretends the carrying men above such low
and contemptible means of communion with God. In a word, it were
a very easy and facile task, to pass through all of the eminent effects
of the Holy Ghost in and towards believers, and to manifest that
the pretending spirit of our days comes in a dfrect opposition and
pontradiction to every one of them. Thus hath Satan passed from
one extreme to another, — from a bitter, wretched opposition to the
Spirit of Christ, unto a cursed pretending to the Spirit; stiU to the
same end and purpose.
I might give sundry other instances of the contempt or abuse of
the dispensation of the Spirit. Those mentioned are the extremes
whereunto aU other are or may be reduced; and I will not farther
divert from that which lies directly in my aim.

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLT GHOST. 259

CHAPTER VI.
Of particular communion with the Holy Ghost — Of preparation thereunto — Va
luation of the benefits we receive by him — ^Vhat it is he comforts, us in and
against; wherewith; how.
The way being thus made plain for us, I come to show how we
hold particular communion with the Holy Ghost, as he is promised
of Christ to be our comforter, and as working out our consolation
by the means formerly insisted on. Now, the first thing I shall do
herein, is the proposal of that which may be some preparation to the
duty under consideration; and this by leading the spuls of beUevers
to a due valuation of this work of his towards us, whence he is called
our Comforter.
To raise up our hearts to this frame, and fit us for the duty in
tended, let us consider these three things : —
First, What it is he comforts us against.
Secondlt, Wherewith he comforts us.
Thirdly, The principle of all his actings and operations in us
for our consolation.
First. There are but three things in the whole course of Our
pUgrimage that the consolations of the Holy Ghost are useful and
necessary in : —
1. In our afflictions. Affliction is part of the provision that God
hath made in his house for his children, Heb. xU. 5, 6. The great
variety of its causes, means, uses, and effects, is generally known.
There is a measure of them appointed for every one. To be wholly
without them is a temptation; and so in some measure an affliction.
That which I am to speak unto is, that in all our afflictions we need
the consolations of the Holy Ghost. It is the nature of man to relieve
himself^ when he is entangled, by aU ways and means. According as
men's natural spirits are, so do they manage themselves under pres
sures. " The spirit of a man wUl bear his infirmity;" at least, wUl
struggle with it.
There are two great evUs, one of which does generally seize on men
under thefr afflictions, and keep them from a due management of
them. The apostle mentioneth them both, Heb. xU. 5, M^ oXiyiipu
'/raidsiag Kvpiov, /tjjos IxXbou, lie abroU eXiyxofievog, — " Despise not the
chastisement of the Lord; neither faint when thou art reproved."
One of these extremes do men usuaUy fall into ; either they despise
the Lord's correction, or sink under it
(1.) Men despise it. They account that which befalls them to be
a light or common thing; they take no notice of God in it; they can

260 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
shift with it weU enough : they look on instruments, second causes ;
provide for thefr own defence and vindication with Uttle regard to
God or his hand in thefr affliction. And the ground of this is, be
cause they take in succours, in thefr trouble, that God wiU not mix
his grace withal; they fix on other remedies than what he hath ap
pointed, and utterly lose all the benefits and advantage of their afflic
tion. And so shall every man do that reheves himself from any thing
but the consolations of the Holy Ghost.
(2.) Men faint and sink under thefr trials and afflictions; which
the apostle farther reproves, verse 12. The first despise the assist
ance of the Holy Ghost through pride of heart ; the latter refuse it
through dejectedness of spirit, and sink under the weight of thefr
troubles. And who, almost, is there that offends not on one of these
hands? Had we not learned to count Ught of the chastisements of
the Lord, and to take little notice of his dealings with us, we should
find the season of our afflictions to comprise no small portion of our
pUgrimage. Now, there is no due management of our souls under any afflic
tion, so that God may have the glory of it, and ourselves any spiritual
benefit or improvement thereby, but by the consolations of the Holy
Ghost. All that our Saviour promiseth his disciples, when he tells
ihem of the great trials and tribulations they were to undergo, is,
"I wUl.send you the Spirit, the Comforter; he shall give you peace
in me, when in the world you shall have trouble. He shall guide
and direct/and keep you in all your trials." And so, the apostle tells
us, it came to pass, 2 Cor. L 4-6; yea, and this, under the greatest
afflictions, wiU carry the soul to the highest joy, peace, rest, and con
tentment. So the same apostle, Rom. v. 3, " We glory in tribula
tions." It is a great expression. He had said before, " We rejoice
in hope of the glory of God," verse 2. Yea, but what if manifold
afflictions and tribulations befaU us? " Why, even in them also we
glory," saith he; "we glory in our tribulations." But whence is it
that our spirits are so borne up to a due management of afflictions,
as to glory in them in the Lord? He tells us, verse 5, it is from the
" shedding abroad of the love of God in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost." And thence are believers said to " receive the word iniriuch
affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost," 1 Thess. i. 6; and to ".take
joyfully the spoiling of their goods." This is that I aim at:— there
is no management nor improvement of any affliction, but merely and
solely by the consolations of the Holy Ghost Is it, then, of any
esteem or value unto you that you lose not all your trials, tempta
tions, and afflictions ? — learn to value that whereby alone they are
rendered useful.
2. Sin is the second burden of our lives, and much the greatest

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 261
Unto this is this consolation peculiarly suited. So Heb. vi. 17, 18,
an allusion is taken from the manslayer under the law, who, having
killed a man unawares, and brought the guilt of his blood upon him
self, fled with speed for his deliverance to the city of refuge. Our
great and only refuge from the guilt of sin is the Lord Jesus Christ;
in our flying to him, doth the Spfrit administer consolation to us.
A sense of sin fills the heart with troubles and disquietness; it is the
Holy Ghost which gives us peace in Christ ; — that gives an appre
hension of wrath ; the Holy Ghost sheds abroad the love of God in
our hearts ; — from thence doth Satan and the law accuse us, as ob
jects of God's hatred ; the Spirit bears witness with our spfrits that we
are the chUdren of God. There is not any one engine or instrument
that sin useth or sets up against our peace, but one effect or other of
the Holy Ghost towards us is suited and fitted to the casting of it
down. 3. In the whole course of our obedience are his consolations neces
sary also, that we may go through with it cheerfully, wUlingly, pa
tiently to the end. This will afterward be more fuUy discovered, as
to particulars, when I come to give directions for our communion
with this blessed Comforter. In a word, in all the concernments of
this Ufe, and in our whole expectation of another, we stand in need
of the consolations of the Holy Ghost.
Without them, we shaU either despise afflictions or faint under
them, and God be neglected as to his intendments in them.
Without them, sin will either harden us to a contempt of it, or cast
us down to a neglect of the remedies graciously provided against it.
Without them, duties will either puff us up with pride, or leave us
without that sweetness which is in new obedience.
Without them, prosperity will make us carnal, sensual, and to take
up our contentment in these" things, and utterly weaken us for the
trials of adversity.
Without them, the comforts of our relations wUl separate us from
God, and the loss of them make our hearts as Nabais.
Without them, the calamity of the church wUl overwhelm us, and
the prosperity of the church wiU not concern us.
Without them, we shah have wisdom for no work, peace in no
condition, strength for no duty, success in no trial, Joy in no state, —
no comfort in life, no light in death.
Now, our afflictions, our sins, and our obedience, with the attend
ancies of them respectively, are the great concernments of our lives.
What we are in reference unto God is comprised in them, and the
due management of them, with their contraries, which come under
the same rule; through all these doth there run a line of consolation
from the Holy Ghost, -that gives us a joyful issue throughout. How

262 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
sad is the condition of poor souls destitute of these consolations!
What pppr shifts are they forced tc betake themselves unto ! what
giants have they to encounter in their own strength ! and whether
they are conquered or seem to conquer, they have nothing but the
misery of thefr trials !
The second thing considerable, to teach us to put a due valuation
on the consolations of the Holy Ghost, is the matter of them, or that
wherewith he comforts us. Now, this may be referred to the two heads
that I have formerly treated of, — the love of the Father, and the
grace of the Son. All the consolations of the Holy Ghost consist im
his acquainting us with, and communicating unto us, the love of the
Father and the grace of the Son; nor is there any thing in the one
or the other but he makes it a matter of consolation to us: so that,
indeed, we have our communion with the Father in his love, and the
Son in his grace, by the operation of the Holy Ghost.
1. He communicates to us, and acquaints us with, the love of the
Father. Having informed his disciples with that ground and foun
dation of their consolation which by the Comforter they should re
ceive, our blessed Saviour (John xvi. 27) shuts up all in this, " The
Father himself loveth you." This is that which the Comforter is
given to acquaint us withal, — even that God is the Father, and that
he loves us. In particular, that the Father, the first person in the Tri
nity, considered so distinctly, loves us. On this account is he said so
often to come forth from the Father, because he comes in pursuit of
his love, and to acquaint the hearts of believers therewith, that they
may be comforted and established. By persuading us of the eternal
and unchangeable love of the Father, he fiUs us with consolation.
And, indeed, all the effects of the Holy Ghost before mentioned have
thefr tendency this way. Of this love and its transcendent excel
lency you heard at large before. Whatever is desirable in it is thus
communicated to us by the Holy Ghost. A sense of this is able not
only to relieve us, but to make us in every condition to rejoice with
joy unspeakable and glorious. It is not with an increase of corn,
and wine, and oil, but with the shining of the countenance of God
upon us, that he comforts our souls, Ps. iv. 6, 7. " The world hateth
me," may such a soul as hath the Spirit say; " but my Father loves
me. Men despise me as a hypocrite; but my Father loves me as a
child. I am poor in this world ; but I have a rich inheritance in the
love of my Father. I am straitened in all things ; but there is bread
enough in my Father's house. I mourn in secret under the power
of my lusts and sin, where no eyes see me; but the Father sees me,
and is full of compassion. With a sense of his kindness, which is
better than life, I rejoice in tribulation, glory in affliction, triumph as
a conqueror. Though I am killed aU the day long, all my sorrows

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 263
have a bottom that may be fathomed, — my trials, bounds that may be
compassed ; but the breadth, and depth, and height of the love of the
Father, who can express?" I might render glorious this way of the
Spirit's comforting us with the love of the Father, by comparing it
with all other causes and means of jffy and consolation whatever; and
so discover thefr emptiness, its fulness, — their nothingness, its being
aU ; as also by revealing the properties of it before rehearsed.
2. Again : he doth it by communicating to us, and acquainting us
with, the grace of Christ, — all the fruits of his purchase, all the desire-
ableness of his person, as we are interested in him. The grace of
Christ, as I formerly discoursed of at large, is referred to two heads, —
the grace of his person, and of his office and work. By both these
doth the Holy Ghost administer consolation to us, John xvi. 14. He
glorifies Christ by revealing his excellencies and desirableness to be
lievers, as the " chiefest of ten thousand, — altogether lovely ;" and
then he shows them of the things of Christ, — his love, grace, all the
fruits of his death, suffering, resurrection, and intercession : and with
these supports their hearts and souls. And here, whatever is of
refreshment in the pardon of sin, deliverance from the curse, and
wrath to come, in justification and adoption, with the innumerable
privileges attending them in the hope of glory given unto us, comes
in on this head of account.
Thirdly. The principle and fountain of all his actings for our
consolation comes next under consideration, to the same end; and
this leads us a little nearer to the communion intended to be directed
in. Now, this is his own great love and infinite condescension. He
willingly proceedeth or comes forth from the Father to be our com
forter. He knew what we were, and what we could do, and what
would be our dealings with him, — he knew we would grieve him,
provoke him, quench his motions, defile his dwelling-place; and yet
be would come to be our comforter. Want of a due consideration of
this great love of the Holy Ghost weakens all the principles of our
obedience. Did this dwell and abide upon our hearts, what a dear
valuation must we needs put upon all his operations and actings to
wards us ! Nothing, indeed, is valuable but what comes from love and
good-wUl. This is the way the Scripture takes to raise up our hearts
to a right and due estimation of our redemption by Jesus Christ. It
tells us that he did it freely ; that of his own wUl he hath laid down his
Ufe ; that he did it out of love.1 " In this was manifested the love of
God, that he laid down his life for us ;" " He loved us, and gave himself
for us;" " He loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood."
Hereunto it adds our state and condition, considered as he undertook
for us, — sinners, enemies, dead, alienated ; then he loved us, and died
1 1 John iv. 9, iii. 16; Gal. ii. 20; Rev. i. 5.

264 OF COMMUNION WITH^THE HOLY GHOST.
for us, and washed us with his blood. May we not hence, also, have
a valuation of the dispensation of the Spirit for our consolation? He
proceeds to that end from the Father; he distributes as he wiU, works
as he pleaseth. And what are we, towards whom he carrieth on this
work? Froward, perverse, unthankful; grieving, vexing, provoking
him. Yet in his love and tenderness doth he continue to do us good.
Let us by faith consider this love of the Holy Ghost. It is the head
and source of all the communion we have with him in this life. This
is, as I said, spoken only to prepare our hearts to the communion
proposed; and what a Uttle portion is it of what might be spoken !
How might aU these considerations be aggravated ! what a number
less number might be added ! It suffices that, from what is spoken,
it appears that the work in hand is amongst the greatest duties and
most excellent privileges of the gospel.

CHAPTER VII.
The general ways of the saints' acting in communion with the Holy Ghost.
As in the account given of the actings of the Holy Ghost in us,
we manifested first the general adjuncts of his actings, or the manner
thereof; so now, in the description of the returns of our souls to him,
I shall, in the first place, propose the general actings of faith in refer
ence to this work of the Holy Ghost, and then descend unto parti
culars. Now, there are three general ways of the sbuis depertment
in this communion, expressed aU negatively in the Scripture, but aU
including positive duties. Now these are, — First, Not to grieve him.
Secondly, Not to quench his motions. Thirdly, Not to resist him.
There are three things considerable in the Holy Ghost : — 1. His
person, as dwelUng in us; 2. His actings by grace, or his motions;
3. His working in the ordinances of the word, and the sacraments; —
all for the same end and purpose.
To these three are the three cautions before suited: — 1. Not to
grieve him, in respect of his person dweUing in us. 2. Not to
quench him, in respect of the actings and motions of his grace.
3. Not to resist him, in respect of the ordinances of Christ, and
his gifts for thefr administration. Now, because the whole general
duty of beUevers, in their communion with the Holy Ghost, is com
prised in these three things, I shall handle them severally: —
1. The first caution concerns his person immediately, as dwell
ing in us. It is given, Eph. iv. 30, " Grieve not the Holy Spfrit of

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 265
God." There is a complaint, Isa. Ixiii. 10, of them who vexed or
grieved the Spirit of God; and from thence doth this caution seem
to be taken. That it is the person of the Holy Ghost which is here
intended, is evident, —
(1.) From the phrase, or manner of expression, with a double
article, Tb Tlvzu/ia rb aywv, — " That Holy Spirit ;" and also, —
(2.) From the work assigned to him in the following words, of
" sealing to the day of redemption;" which, as hath been manifested,
is the work of the Holy Ghost. Now, whereas this may be under
stood of the Spirit in others, or in ourselves, it is evident that the
apostle intends it in the latter sense, by his addition of that signal
and eminent privUege which we ourselves enjoy by him : he seals us
to the day of redemption.
Let us see, then, the tendency of this expression, as comprising the
first general rule of our communion with the Holy Ghost, — " Grieve
not the Spirit."
The term of "grieving," or affecting with sorrow, may be con
sidered either actively, in respect of the persons grieving; or passively,
in respect of the persons grieved. In the latter sense the expression
is metaphorical. The Spirit cannot be grieved, or affected with sor
row ; which infers alteration, disappointment, weakness, — all incom
patible with his infinite perfections; yet men may actively do that
which is fit and able to grieve any one that stands affected towards
them as doth the Holy Ghost. If he be not grieved, it is no thanks
to us, but to his own unchangeable nature. So that there are two
things denoted in this expression: —
First, That the Holy Ghost is affected towards us as one that is
loving, careful, tender, concerned in our good and well-doing; and
therefore upon our miscarriages is said to be grieved: as a good
friend of a kind and loving nature is apt to be on the miscarriage
of him whom he doth affect. And this is that we are principally to
regard in this caution, as the ground and foundation of it, — the love,
kindness, and tenderness of the Holy Ghost unto us. "Grieve him not."
Secondly, That we may do those things that are proper to grieve
him, though he be not passively grieved; our sin being no less therein
than if he were grieved as we are. Now, how this is done, how the
Spfrit is grieved, the apostle declareth in the contexture of that dis
course, verses 21-24. He presseth to a progress in sanctification,
and all the fruits of regeneration, verses 25-29. He -dehorts from
sundry particular evils that were contrary thereto, and then gives the
general enforcement of the one and the other, " And grieve not the
Holy Spirit of God;" that is, by coming short of that universal sanc
tification which our planting into Christ doth require. The positive
duty included in this caution, of not grieving the Holy Spirit, is this, —

266 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
that we pursue universal holiness with regard unto, and upon the
account of, the love, kindness, and tenderness, of the Holy Ghost.
This is the foundation of our communion we have in general. When
the soul considers the love, kindness, and tenderness of the Holy
Ghost unto him; when he considers all the fruits and acts of his love
and good-will towards him ; and on that account, and under that con
sideration, because he is so concerned in our ways and walkings, to
abstain from evils, and to walk in all duties of holiness, — this is to
have communion with him. This consideration, that the Holy Ghost,
who is our comforter, is dehghted with our obedience, grieved at our
evils and follies, being made a continual motive to, and reason of, .
our close walking with God in all holiness, is, I say, the first general
way of our communion with him.
Here let us fix a little. We lose both the power and pleasure of
our obedience for want of this consideration. We see on what ac
count the Holy Ghost undertakes to be our comforter, by what ways
and means he performs that office towards us ; what an unworthy
thing it is to grieve him, who comes to us on purpose to give us con
solation ! Let the soul, in the whole course of its obedience, exercise
itself by faith to thoughts hereof, and lay due weight upon it : " The
Holy Ghost, in his infinite love and kindness towards me, hath con
descended to be my comforter; he doth it wUlingly, freely, powerfully.
What have I received from him ! in the multitude of my perplexities
how hath he refreshed my soul ! Can I Uve one day without his
consolations? And shall I be regardless of him in that wherein he
is concerned? Shall I grieve him by negligence, sin, and folly?
Shall not his love constrain me to walk before him to all weU-pleas-
ing?" So have we in general fellowship with him.
2. The second is that of 1 Thess. v. 19, " Quench not the Spirit."
There are various thoughts about the sense ,of these words. " The
Spirit in others, that is, thefr spiritual gifts," say some; but then
it falls in with what follows, verse 20, " Despise not prophesyings."
" The light that God hath set up in our hearts," say others ; but
where is that called absolutely Tb Tlvtvpa, — "The Spirit?" It is
the Holy Ghost himself that is here intended, not immediately, in
respect of his person (in which regard he is said to be grieved, which
is a personal affection) ; but in respect of his motions, actings, and
operations. The Holy Ghost was typified by the fire that was always
kept alive on the altar. He is also called a " Spirit of burning."
The reasons of that aUusion are manifold ; not now to be insisted on.
Now, the opposition that is made to 'fire in its actings, is by quench
ing. Hence the opposition made to the actings of the Holy Ghost
are called " quenching of the Spirit," as some kind of wet wood will
do, when it is cast into the fire. Thence are we said, in pursuance

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 267
of the same metaphor, amH_u>!rupu\i, — to "stir up with new fire," the
gifts that are in us. 'The Holy Ghost is striving with us, acting in
us, moving variously for our growth in grace, and bringing forth
fruit meet for the principle he hath endued us withal. " Take heed,"
saith the apostle, " lest, by the power of your lusts and temptations,
you attend not to his workings, but hinder him in his good-wiU
towards you ; that is, what in you lieth."
This, then, is the second general rule for our communion with the
Holy Ghost. It respects his" gracious operations in us and by us.
There are several and various ways whereby the Holy Ghost is said
to act, exert, and put forth his power in us; partly by moving upon
and stirring up the grace we have received ; partly by new suppUes
of grace from Jesus Christ, falling in with occasions for thefr exercise,
raising good motions immediately or occasionally within us;— all
tending to our furtherance in obedience and walking with God. All
these are we carefully to observe and take notice of, — consider the
fountain whence they come, and the end which 'they lead us unto.
Hence have we communion with the Holy Ghost, when we can con
sider him by faith as the immediate author of all supplies, assistances,
and the whole reUef we have by grace; of all good actings, risings,
motions in our hearts ; of all strivings and contendings against sin.
When we consider, I say, all these his actings and workings in thefr
tendency to our consolation, and on that account are careful and
watchful to improve them all to the end aimed at, .as coming from
him who is so loving, and kind, and tender" to us, we have commu
nion with him.
This is that which is intended, — every gracious acting of the blessed
Spirit in and towards our souls, is constantly by faith to be considered
as coming from him in a pecuUar manner; his mind, his good-wiU is
to be observed therein. Hence, care and dUigence for the improve
ment of every motion of his, will arise ; thence reverence of his pre
sence with us, with due spiritual regard to his hoUness, doth ensue,
and our souls are wonted to intercourse with him.
3. The third caution concerns him and his work, in the dispen
sation of that great ordinance of ihe word. Stephen tells the Jews,
Acts vn. 51, that they " resisted the Holy Ghost." How did they
<3o it? Why, as their fathers did it: "As your fathers did, so do
ye." How did thefr fathers resist the Holy Ghost? Verse 52, " They
persecuted the prophets, and slew them;" thefr opposition to the
prophets in preaching the gospel, or thefr showing of the coming of
the Just One, was their resisting of the Holy Ghost. Now, the Holy
Ghost is said to be resisted in the contempt of the preaching of the
word ; because the gift of preaching of it is from him. ] " The mani
festation of the Spirit is given to profit." Hence, when our Saviour
1 1 Cor. xii. 7-

268 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
promiseth the Spfrit to his disciples, to be present with them for the
conviction of the world, he tells them he wiU give them a mouth and
wisdom, which thefr adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor re
sist, Luke xxL 15; concerning which, in the accomplishment of it in
Stephen, it is said that they " were not able to resist the Spirit by
which he spake," Acts vi. 10. . The Holy Ghost then setting up a mi
nistry in the church, separating men thereto, furnishing them with
gifts and abilities for the dispensation of the word ; the not obeying of
that word, opposing of it, not falling down before it, is caUed resisting
of the Holy Ghost. This, in the examples of the wickedness of others,
are we cautioned against. And this inwraps the third general rule
of our communion with the Holy Ghost : — in the dispensation of the
word of the gospel, the authority, wisdom, and goodness of the Holy
Ghost, in furnishmg men with gifts for that end and purpose, and
his presence with them, as to the virtue thereof, is to be eyed, and
subjection given unto it on that account. On this reason, I say, on
this ground, is obedience to be yielded to the word, in the minis
terial dispensation thereof, — because the Hely Ghost, and he alone,
doth furnish with gifts to that end and purpose. When this conside
ration causeth us to fall low before the word, then have we commu
nion with the Holy Ghost in that ordinance. But this is commonly
spoken unto.

Chapter viii.
Particular directions for communion with the Holy Ghost.
Before I name particular directions for our communion with the
Holy Ghost, I must premise some cautions, as far as the directions
to be given, concerning his worship.
First. The divine nature is the reason and cause of all worship;
so that it is impossible to worship any one person, and not worship
the whole Trinity. It is, and that not without ground, denied by the
schoolmen, that the formal reason and object of divine worship is in
the persons precisely considered; that is, under the formaUy-con-
stitutive reason of their personality, which is thefr relation to each
other. But this belongs to the divine nature and essence, and to thefr
distinct persons as they are identified with the essence itseff. Hence
is that way of praying to the Trinity, by the repetition of the same
petition to the several persons (as in the Litany), groundless, if not
impious. It supposeth that one person is worshipped, and not an
other, when each person is worshipped as God, and each person is
so; — as though we first should desire pne thing of the Father, and

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 269
be heard and granted by him, then ask the same thing of the Son,
and so of the Holy Ghost ; and so act as to the same thing three dis
tinct acts of worship, and expect to be heard and have the same thing
granted three times distinctly, when all the works of the Trinity, ad
extra, are indivisible.
The proper and peculiar object of divine worship and invocation
is the essence of God, in its infinite exceUency, dignity, majesty, and
its causality, as the first sovereign cause of all things. Now, this is
common to aU the three persons, and is proper to each of them ; not
formally as a person, but as God blessed for ever. All adoration
respects that which is common to all ; so that in each act of adoration
and worship, all are adored and worshipped. The creatures worship
their Creator; and a man, him in whose image he was created, —
namely, him "from whom descendeth every good and perfect gift:"
aU this describing God as God. Hence, —
Secondly. When we begin our prayers to God the Father, and end
them in the name of Jesus Christ, yet the Son is no less invocated
and worshipped in the beginning than the Father, though he be pe
culiarly mentioned as mediator in the close, — not as Son to himseff,
but as mediator to the whole Trinity, or God in Trinity. But in the
invocation of God the Father we invocate every person ; because we
invocate the Father as God, every person being so.
Thirdly. In that heavenly directory which we have, Eph. ii. 18,
this whole business is declared. Our access in our worship is said to
be "to the Father;" and this "through Christ," or his mediation; "by
the Spirit," or his assistance. Here is a distinction of the persons, as
to their operations, but not at all as to thefr being the object of our
worship. For the Son and the Holy Ghost are no less worshipped
in our access to God than the Father himseff; only, the grace of the
Father, which we obtain by the mediation of the Son and the assist
ance of the Spfrit, is that which we draw nigh to God for. So that
when, by the distinct dispensation of the Trinity, and every person,
we are led to worship (that is, to act faith on or invocate) any person,
we do herein worship the whole Trinity; and every person, by what
name soever, of Father, Son, or Holy Ghost, we invocate him. So
that this is to be observed in this whole matter, — that when any work
of the Holy Ghost (or any other person), which is appropriated to
him (we never exclude the concurrence of other persons), draws us
to the worship of him, yet he is not worshipped exclusively, but the
whole Godhead is worshipped.
Fourthly. These cautions being premised, I say that we are dis
tinctly to worship the Holy Ghost. As it is in the case of faith in
respect of the Father and the Son, John xiv. 1, " BeUeve in God,
believe also in me," — this extends itself no less to the Holy Ghost.
Christ called the disciples for the acting of faith on him, he being

270 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
upon the accoinphshment of the great work of his mediation; and
the Holy Ghost, now carrying on the work of his delegation, requireth
the same. And to the same purpose are thefr distinct operations
mentioned: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Now, as
the formal reason of the worship of the Son is not his mediation, but
his being God (his mediation being a powerful motive thereto), so
the formal reason of our worshipping the Holy Ghost is not his being
our comforter, but his being God; yet his being our comforter is a
powerful motive thereunto.
This is the sum of the first direction: — the grace, actings, love,
effects of the Holy Ghost, as he is our comforter, ought. to stir us
up and provoke us to love, worship, bdieve in, and invocate him; —
though all this, being directed to him as God, is no less directed, on
that account, to the other persons than to him. Only by the fruits
of his love towards us are wye stirred up unto it.
These things being presupposed, let the saints learn to act faithj.
distinctly on the Holy Ghost, as the immediate efficient cause of all '
the good things mentioned; — faith, 1 say, to beUeve in him; and
faith in all things to believe him and to yield obedience to him;
faith, not imagination. The distinction of the persons in the Trinity
is not to be fancied, but believed. So, then, the Scripture so fuUy,
frequently, clearly, distinctly ascribing the things we have been speak
ing of to the immediate efficiency of the Holy Ghost, faith closeth
with him in the truth revealed, and pecuharly regards him, worships
him, serves him, waits for him, prayeth to him, praiseth him; — all
these things, I say, the saints do in faith. The person of the Holy
Ghost, revealing itself in these operations and effects, is the pecuUar
object of our worship. Therefore, when he ought to be pecuharly
honoured, and is not, he is peculiarly sinned against. Acts v. 3,
Ananias is said to lie to the Holy Ghost, — not to God; which being
taken essentially, would denote the whole Trinity, but peculiarly to
the Holy Ghost. Him he was to have honoured peculiarly in that
especial gift of his which he made profession of; — not doing it, he
sinned peculiarly agamst him. But this must be a Uttle farther
branched into particulars : —
Let us, then, lay weight on every effect of the Holy Ghost in
any of the particulars before mentioned, on this account, that they
are acts of his love and power towards us. This faith wiU do, that
takes notice of his kindness in all things. Frequently he performs,
in sundry particulars, the office of a comforter towards us, and we are
not thoroughly comforted, — we take no notice at all of what he doth.
Then is he grieved. Of those who do receive and own the consola
tion he tenders and administers, how few are there that consider him
as the Comforter, and rejoice in him as they ought ! Upon every
work of consolation that the believer receives, this ought his faith to

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 271
resolve upon, — " This is from the Holy Ghost ; he is the Comforter, tho
God of all consolation; I know there is no joy, peace, hope, nor com
fort, but what he works, gives, and bestows ; and, that he might give
me this consolation, he hath wUlingly condescended to this office of
a comforter. His love was in it, and on that account doth he con
tinue it. Also, he is sent by the Father and Son for that end and
purpose. By this means come I to be partaker of my joy, — it is in
the Holy Ghost ; of consolation, — he is the Comforter. What price,
now, shall I set upon his love ! how shall I value the mercy that I
have received!"
This, I say, is applicable to every particular effect of the Holy
Ghost towards us ; and herein have we communion and feUowship
with him, as was in part discovered in our handling the particulars.
Doth he shed abroad the love of God in our hearts? doth he witness
unto our adoption? The soul considers his presence, ponders his love,
his condescension, goodness, and kindness ; is filled with reverence of
him, and cares [takes care] not to grieve him, and labours to preserve
his temple, his habitation, pure and holy.
Again : our communion with him causeth in us returning praise,
and thanks, and honour, and glory, and blessing to him, on the account
of the mercies and privUeges which we receive from him; which are
many. Herein consists our next direction. So do we with the Son
of God on the account of our redemption : " Unto him that loved
us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, to him be glory and
dominion for ever and ever," Rev. i. 5, 6. And are not the like praises
arid blessings due to him by whom the work of redemption is made
effectual to us ? who with noless infinite love undertook our consola
tion than the Son our redemption. When we feel our hearts warmed
with joy, supported in peace, established in our obedience, let us ascribe
to him the praise that is due to him, bless his name, and rejoice in him.
And this glorifying of the Holy Ghost in thanksgivings, on a spi
ritual sense of his consolations, is no small part of our communion
with him. Considering his free engagement in this work, his coming
forth from the Father to this purpose, his mission by the Son, and
condescension therein, his love and kindness, the soul of a believer is
poured out in thankful praises to him, and is sweetly affected with
the duty. There is no duty that leaves a more heavenly savour in
-the soul than this doth.
Also, in our prayers to him for the carrying on the work of our
consolation, which he hath undertaken, lies our communion with him.
John prays for grace and peace from the seven Spirits that are before
the tnrone, or the Holy Ghost, whose operations are perfect and
complete. This part of his worship is expressly mentioned frequently
in Scripture; and all others do necessarily attend it. Let the saints
consider what need they stand in of these effects of the Holy Ghost

272 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
before mentioned, with many such others as might be insisted on;
weigh all the privileges which we are made partakers of; remember
that he distributes them as he will, that he hath the sovereign dis
posal of them ; and they wiU be prepared for this duty.
How and in what sense it is to be performed hath been already
declared : what is the formal reason of this worship, and ultimate
object of it, I have also manifested. In the duty itself is put forth
no small part of the life, efficacy, and vigour of faith; and we come
short of that enlargedness of spfrit in dealing with God, and are
straitened from walking in the breadth of his ways, which we are
called unto, if we learn not ourselves to meet him with his worship
in every way he is pleased to communicate himseff unto us. In these
things he does so in the person of the Holy Ghost. In that person
do we meet him, his love, grace, and authority, by our prayers and
supplications. Again : consider him as he condescends to this delegation of the
Father and the Son to be our comforter, and ask him daUy of the
Father in the name of Jesus Christ. This is the daUy work of be
lievers. They look upon, and by faith consider, the Holy Ghost as
promised to be sent. In this promise, they know, lies all their grace,
peace, mercy, joy, and hope. For by him so promised, and him alone,
are these things communicated to them. If, therefore, our life to God,
or the joy of that Ufe, be considerable, in this we are to abound, —
to ask him of the Father, as children do of thefr parents daily bread.
And as, in this asking and receiving of the Holy Ghost, we have com
munion with the Father in his love, whence he is sent; and with the
Son in his grace, whereby he is obtained for us ; so with himseff, on
the account of his voluntary condescension to this dispensation. Evei7
request for the Holy Ghost implies our closing with aU these. 0
the riches of the grace of God !
Humbling ourselves for our miscarriages in reference to him
is another part of our communion with him. That we have grieved
him as to his person, quenched him as to the motion of his grace,
or resisted him in his ordinances, is to be mourned for ; as hath been
declared. Let our souls be humbled before him on this account.
This one considerable ingredient of godly sorrow, and the thoughts
of it, are as suitable to the affecting of our hearts with humiliation,
and indignation against sin, as any other whatever. I might pro
ceed in the like considerations; as also make application of them to
the particular effects of the Holy Ghost enumerated ; but my design
is only to point out the heads of things, and to leave them to the im
provement of others.
I shall shut up this whole discourse with some considerations of
the sad estate and condition of men not interested in this promise of
the Spirit, nor made nartakers of his consolation: —

OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. 273
1. They have no true consolation or comfort, be their estate and
condition what it wUl. Are they under affliction or in trouble? —
they must bear thefr own burden; and how much too weak they
are for it, if God be pleased to lay on his hand with more weight
than ordinary, is easUy known. Men may have stoutness of spirit,
and put on great resolutions to wrestle with their troubles ; but when
this is merely from the natural spfrit of a man, —
(1.) For the most part it is but an outside. It is done with re
spect to others, that they may not appear low-spirited or dejected.
Their hearts are eaten up and devoured with troubles and anxiety
of mind. Thefr thoughts are perplexed, and they are stUl striving,
but never come to a conquest. Every new trouble, every little alter
ation in their trials, puts them to new vexation. It is an ungrounded
resolution that bears them up, and they are easUy shaken.
(2.) What is the best of their resolves and enduring? It is but a
contending with God, who hath entangled them, — the struggling of
a flea under a mountain. Yea, though, on outward considerations
and principles, they endeavour after patience and tolerance, yet all
is but a contending with God, — a striving to be quiet under that
which God hath sent on purpose to disturb them. God doth not
afflict men without the Spirit, to exercise thefr patience; but to dis
turb their peace and security. AU their arming themselves with
patience and resolution, is but to keep the hold that God wUl cast
them out of, or else make them the nearer to ruin. This is the best
of thefr consolation in the time of thefr trouble.
(3.) If they do promise themselves any thing of the care of God
towards them, and relieve themselves thereby, — as they often do, on
one account or another, especiaUy when they are driven from other
holds, — aU thefr relief is but hke the dreaming of an hungry man, who
supposeth that he eateth and drinketh, and is refreshed; but when he
awaketh, he is empty and disappointed. So are they as to all their re
lief that they promise to receive from God, and the support which they
seem to have from him. When they are awaked at the latter day,
and see all things clearly, they will find that God was their enemy,
laughing at their calamity, and mocking when their fear was on them.
So is it with them in trouble. Is it any better with them in thefr
prosperity? This, indeed, is often great, and is marvellously described
in Scripture, as to thefr lives, and oftentimes quiet, peaceable ends.
But have they any true consolation all thefr days? They eat, drink,
sleep, and make merry, and perhaps heap up to themselves; but how
little do these things make them to differ from the beasts that perish !
Solomon's advantage,, to have the use and know the utmost of these
things, much beyond any of the sons of men of our generation, is
commonly taken notice of. The account also that he gives of them
VOL. II. 18

274 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
is known : " They are all vanity and vexation of spirit." This is
their consolation: — a crackUng of thorns under the pot, a sudden flash
and blaze, that begins but to perish. So that both adversity and
prosperity slayeth them; and whether they are laughing or crying,
they are stUl dying.
2. They have no peace, — no peace with God, nor in their own souls.
I know that many of them, upon false bottoms, grounds, and ex
pectations, do make a shift to keep things in some quietness, neither is
it my business at present to discover the falseness and unsoundness of
it; but this is their state. True and solid peace being an effect of the
Holy Ghost in the hearts of believers (as hath been declared), they who
are not made partakers of him have no such peace. They may cry,
"Peace, peace," indeed, when sudden destruction is at hand. The prin
ciples of thefr peace (as may be easily evinced) are, darkness or igno
rance, treachery of conscience, self-righteousness, and vain hope. To
these heads may all the principles of thefr peace be reduced; and what
wUl these avail them in the day when the Lord shall deal with them?
3. I might say the same concerning their joy and hope; — they are
false and perishing. Let them, then, consider this, who have satis
fied themselves with a persuasion of their interest in the good things
of the gospel, and yet have despised the Spfrit of Christ. I know
there are many that may pretend to him, and yet are strangers from
his grace ; but if they perish who in profession use him kindly, and
honour him, if he dwell not in them with power, where shaU they
appear who oppose and affront him? The Scripture teUs us, that
unless the Spirit of Christ be in us, we are dead, we are reprobates,
— we are none of Christ's. Without him you can have none of those
glorious effects of his towards believers before mentioned ; and you
are so far from inquiring whether he be in you or no, as that you are
ready to deride them in whom he is. Are there none who profess
the gospel, who have never once seriously inquired whether they are
made partakers of the Holy Ghost or no? You that almost account
it a ridiculous thing to be put upon any such question, who look on
aU men as vain pretenders that talk of the Spfrit, the Lord awake
such men to a sight of their condition before it be too late ! If the
Spirit dwell not in you, if he be not your Comforter, neither is God
your Father, nor the Son your Advocate, nor have you any portion
in the gospel. 0 that God would awake some poor soul to the con
sideration of this thing, before the neglect and contempt of the Holy
Ghost come to that despising of him from which there is no recovery !
— that the Lord would spread before them all the foUy of their hearts,
that they may be ashamed and confounded, and do no more pre
sumptuously !

A
VINDICATION or
SOME PASSAGES IN A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
COMMUNION WITH GOD,

THE EXCEPTIONS OF WILLIAM SHERLOCK,
EECTOR, Or ST GEOEGE, BOTOLPH LANE.

PREFATORY NOTE.

William Sherlock, father of Dr Thomas Sherlock, an eminent bishop of Lon
don, was himself distinguished as an author, and mingled deeply in the contro
versies of his day. His strictures on Owen's work on Communion with God
appeared in 1674, after that work had been seventeen years before the public.
It seems to have been Sherlock's first appearance in authorship; and some of his
subsequent treatises, such as those on Providence and on Death, afford a better
specimen of his abilities. They are destitute of evangelical principle and feeling,
and imbued throughout with a freezing rationalism of tone; but, nevertheless,
contain some views of the Divine administration, acutely conceived and ably
stated. He became rector of St George, Botolph Lane, received a prebend in
St Paul's, and was appointed Master of the Temple about 1684. His conduct at
the Revolution was not straightforward, aud laid him open to the reproaches of
the Jacobites, who blamed him for deserting their party. There was a contro
versy of some importance between him and Dr South. The latter, on the ground
of some expressions in the work by the former on the Trinity (1690), accused him
of Trithmm. Sherlock retorted by accusing his critic of Sahettianism. He died
in 1707, at the age of sixty-six.
Sherlock's «rork against Owen was entitled, " A Discourse concerning the Know
ledge of Jesus Christ, and on Union and Communion with Him," etc. Owen con
fines himself, in his reply, to an exposure of the misrepresentations in which
Sherlock had indulged. The latter, for example, sought to fix on the Puritan
divine the doctrine, that the knowledge of divine things was to be obtained from
the person of Christ, apart from the truth as revealed in the Scriptures. Our
author successfully vindicates himself from this charge, and repudiates other
sentiments equally mystical, and ascribed to him with equal injustice. The views
of Sherlock, on the points at issue, have been termed, " a confused mass of Soci-
nianized Arminianism." Owen evinces a strength of feeling, in some parts of his
" Vindication," which may be accounted for on the ground that he resented the
attack as part of a systematic effort made at this time to destroy his standing and
reputation as an author. In the main, there is a dignity in his statements which
contrasts well with the wayward petulance of his antagonist; and occasionally the
reader will find a vein of quiet and skilful irony, in the way in which he disposes
of the crude views of Sherlock.
Such was the beginning of the Communion Controversy, which soon embraced a
wider range of topics, and points of more importance, than the merits of Owen's
book. Besides the original disputants, others entered the field. Robert Ferguson,
in 1675, wrote against Sherlock a volume entitled, "The Interest of Reason iu
Religion," etc. Edward Polhill followed, in " An Answer to the Discourse of Mr
William Sherlock," etc. Vincent Alsop first displayed in this controversy his
powers of wit and acumen as an author, in his " Antisozzo, or Sherlocismus Ener-
vatus." Henry Hickman, a, man of considerable gifts, and pastor of an English
congregation at Leyden, wrote the " Speculum Sherlockianum," etc. Samuel
Rolle, a nonconformist, wrote the " Prodromus, or the Character of Mr Sherlock's
Book;" and also, in the same controversy, "Justification Justified." Thomas
Danson, who had been ejected from Sibton, and author of several works against
the Quakers, wrote " The Friendly Debate between Satan and Sherlock," and
afterwards he published again in defence of it. Sherlock, in 1675, replied to
Owen and Ferguson in his " Defence and Continuation of the Discourse concern
ing the Knowledge of Jesus Christ." He was supported by Thomas Hotchkis,
Rector of Staunton, in a " Discourse concerning the Imputation of Christ's Right
eousness," etc. The singular diligence of Mr Orme has compiled this full list of
the works published in this controversy; but he is not quite correct in affirming
that it was closed by the replies of Sherlock and Hotchkis in 1675. A second
part of the work by Hotchkis appeared in 1678; and Sherlock was the author of
two other works, "An Answer to Thomas Danson's scandalous pamphlet, entitled
1 A Friendly Conference,'" etc., which appeared in 1677, and was followed by a
" Vindication of Mr Sherlock against the Cavils of Mr Danson."  Ed.

A VINDICATION OF
SOME PASSAGES IN A DISCOURSE CONCERNING
COMMUNION WITH GOD.

It is now near twenty years since I wrote and published a Discourse
concerning Communion with God. Of what use and advantage it
hath been to any, as to thefr furtherance in the design aimed at
therein, is left unto them to judge by whom it hath been perused
with any candid dUigence ; and I do know that multitudes of per
sons fearing God, and desiring to walk before him in sincerity, are
ready, if occasion require, to give testimony unto the benefit which
they have received thereby;— ras I can also at any time produce the
testimonies of [as] learned and holy persons, it may be, as any I know
Uving, both in England and out of it, who, owning the truth con
tained in it, have highly avowed its usefulness, and are ready yet so
to do. With all other persons, so far as ever I heard, it passed at
the rate of a tolerable acceptation with discourses of the same kind ,
and nature. And however any thing or passage in it might not,
possibly, suit the apprehensions of some, yet, being wholly practical,
designed for popular edification, without any direct engagement into
things controversial, I looked for no opposition unto it or exception
against it ; but that it would at least be suffered to pass at that rate
of allowance which is universally granted unto that sort of writings,
both of ancient and modern authors. Accordingly it so fell out, and
continued for many years; untU some persons began to judge it thefr
interest, and to make it thefr business, to eavil at my writings, and to
load my person with reproaches. With what Uttle success, as to
their avowed designs, they have laboured therein, — how openly then-
endeavours are sunk into contempt with all sorts of persons pretend
ing unto the least sobriety or modesty, — I suppose they are not them
selves altogether, insensible. Among the things which this sort of
men sought to make an advantage of against me, I found that two
or three of them began to. reflect on that discourse; though it ap-

278 A VINDICATION OF
peared they had not satisfied themselves what as yet to fix upon,
their nibbling cavils being exceedingly ridiculous.
But yet, from those intimations of some men's good-wiU towards
it, — sufficient to provoke the industry of such as either needed their
assistance or valued thefr favour, — I was in expectation that one or
other would possess that province, and attempt the whole discourse
or some parts of it. Nor was I dissatisfied in my apprehensions of
that design; for, being earnestly solicited to suffer it to be reprinted,
I was very wilUng to see what either could or would be objected
against it before it received another impression. For whereas it was
written now near twenty years ago, when there was the deepest
peace in the minds of all men about the things treated of therein,
and when I had no apprehension of any dissent from the principal
design, scope, and parts of it by any called Christians in the world,
the Socinians only excepted (whom I had therein no regard unto),
I thought it highly probable that some things might have been so
expressed as to render a review and amendment to them more than
ordinarily necessary. And I reckoned it not improbable, but that
from one malevolent adversary I might receive a more instructive
information of such escapes of dUigence than I could do in so long
a time from aU the more impartial readers of it ; for as unto the sub
stance of the doctrine declared in it, I was sufficiently secure, not
only of its truth, but that it would immovably endure the rudest
assaults of such oppositions as I did expect. I was therefore very
well satisfied when I heard of the pubUshing of this treatise of Mr
Sherlock's, — which, as I was informed, and since have found true,
was principally intended agamst myself, and that discourse (that is,
that book), because I was the author of it, which will at last prove it
to be its only guUt and crime ; — for I thought I should be at once now
satisfied, both what it was which was so long contriving against it
(whereof I could give no conjecture), as also be directed unto any
such mistakes as might have befaUen me in matter or manner of
expression, which I would or might rectify before the book received
another edition. But, upon a view and perusal of this discourse, I
found myself under a double surprisal. For, first, in reference to my
own, I could not find any thing, any doctrine, any expressions, any
words reflected on, which the exceptions of this man do give me the
least occasion to alter, or to desfre that they had been otherwise
either expressed or deUvered; — not any thing which noW, after near
twenty years, I do not still equally approve of, and which I am
not yet ready to justify. The other part of my surprisal was some
what particular, though, in truth, it ought to have been none at all;
and this was with respect unto those doctrinal principles which he
manageth his oppositions upon. A surprisal they were unto me,

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 279
because wild, uncouth, extravagant, and contrary to the common faith
of Christians, — being all of them traduced,1 and some of them tran
scribed, from the writings of the Socinians; [whUe] yet [they] ought
not to have been so, because I was assured that an opposition unto that
discourse could be managed on no other [ground]. But, however, the
doctrine maintained by this man, and those opposed or scorned by
him, are not my special concernment ; for what is it to me what the
Rectof of etc., preacheth or pubhsheth, beyond my common interest in
the truths of the gospel, with other men as great strangers unto him as
myself, who to my knowledge never saw him, nor heard of his name
till infamed by his book? Only, I shall take leave to say, that the
doctrine here published, and licensed so to be, is either the doctrine
of the present church of England, or it is not. If it be so, I shall be
forced to declare that I neither have, nor will have, any communion
therein; and that, as for other reasons, so in particular, because I
wUl not renounce or depart from that which I know to be the true,
ancient, and catholic doctrine of this church. If it be not so, — as I
am assured, with respect unto many bishops and other learned men,
that it is not, — it is certainly the concernment of them who preside i
therein to take care that such kind of discourses be not countenanced
with the stamp of their pubhc authority, lest they and the church be
represented unto a great disadvantage with many.
It was some months after the pubUshing of this discourse, before I
entertained any thoughts of taking the least notice of it, — yea, I was
resolved to the contrary, and declared those resolutions as I had occa
sion ; neither was it until very lately that my second thoughts came
to a comphance with the desires of some others, to consider my own
pecuUar concernment therein. And this is aU which I now design ;
for the examination of the opinions which this author hath vented
under the countenance of public licence, whatever they may think, I
know to be more the concernment of other men than mine. Nor
yet do I enter into the consideration of what is written by this author
with the least respect unto myself, or my own reputation, which I
have the satisfaction to conceive not to be prejudiced by such pitiful
attempts; nor have I the least desfre to preserve it in the minds of
such persons as wherein it can suffer on this occasion. But the vin
dication of some sacred truths, petulantly traduced by this author,
seems to be cast on me in an especial manner; because he hath
opposed them, and endeavoured to expose them to scorn, as declared
in my book; whence others, more meet for this work, might think
themselves discharged from taking notice of them. Setting aside
this consideration, I can freely give this sort of men leave to go on
with thefr revUings and scoffings untU they are weary or ashamed ;
* [Brought over, borrowed.]

280 A VINDICATION OF
which, as far as I can discern, upon consideration of thefr ability for
such a work, and thefr confidence therein, is not Uke to be in haste ; —
at least, they can change thefr course, and when they are out of breath
in pursuit of one sort of calumnies, betake themselves unto another.
Witness the late mahcious, and yet withal ridiculous, reports that
they have divulged concerning me, even with respect unto civU affairs,
and their industry therein ; for although they were such as had not
any thing of the least probabUity or likelihood to give them coun
tenance, yet were they so impetuously divulged, and so readily enter
tained by many, as made me think there was more than the common
artifices of calumny employed in thefr raising and improvement,
especiaUy considering what persons I can justly charge those reports
upon. But in this course they may proceed whilst they please and
think convenient: I find myself no more concerned in what they
write or say of this nature than if it were no more but, —
— i*-t) «T8 xxxu ovr xQ/iovi tpur) tetxxg}
OvXl rt, xx) ftiyx xa~°l> ®'°' ^' Tal oXSix 2«sv.3
It is the doctrine traduced only that I am concerned about, and that
as it hath been the doctrine of the church of England.
It may be it wUl be said (for there is no security against confidence
and immodesty, backed with secular advantages), that the doctrinal
principles asserted in this book are agreeable with the doctrine of the
church in former times; and therefore those opposed in it, such as
are condemned thereby. Hereabout I shaU make no long contest
vrith them who once discover that thefr minds are by any means
emboldened to undertake the defence of such shameless untruths;
nor shaU I multiply testimonies to prove the contrary, which others
are more concerned to do, if they intend not to betray the reUgion
of that church with whose preservation and defence they are intrusted.
Only, because there are ancient divines of this church, who, I am
persuaded, wiU be aUowed with the most to have known as well the
doctrine of it, and as firmly to have adhered thereunto, as this author,
who have particularly spoken unto most of the things which he hath
opposed, or rather reproached, I shaU transcribe the words of one of
them, whereby he, and those who employ him, may be minded with
whom they have to do in those things. For, as to the writers of the
ancient church, there is herein no regard had unto them. He whom
I shall name is Mr. Hooker, and that in his famous book of " Eccle
siastical Polity;" who, in the fifth book thereof, and 56th paragraph,
thus discourseth: —
" We have hitherto spoken of the person and of the presence of
Christ. Participation is that mutual inward hold which Christ hath
of us, and we of him, in such sort that each possesseth other by way
• Od. {. 187. > Od. m. 401.

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 281
of special interest, property, and inherent copulation." And after
the interposition of some things concerning the mutual in-being and,
love of the Father and the Son, he thus proceedeth : — " We are by
nature the sons of Adam. When God created Adam, he created us;
and as many as are descended from Adam have in themselves the
root out of which they spring. The sons of God we neither are all
nor any one of us, otherwise than only by grace and favour. The
sons of God have God's own natural Son as a second Adam from
heaven ; whose race and progeny they are by spiritual and heavenly
birth. God therefore loving eternally his Son, he must needs eter
nally in him have loved, and preferred before all others, them which
are spiritually since descended and sprung out of him. These were
in God as in thefr Saviour, and not as in thefr Creator only. It was
the purpose of his saving goodness, his saving wisdom, and his saving
power, which inclined itself towards them. They which thus were
in God eternally by their intended admission to life, have, by voca
tion or adoption, God actually now in them, as the artificer is in the
work which his hand doth presently frame. Life, as all other gifts
and benefits, groweth originally from the Father, and cometh not to
us but by the Son, nor by the Son to any of us in particular, but
through the Spfrit. For this cause the apostle wisheth to the church
of Corinth, ' the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost;' which three St Peter compre-
hendeth in one, — the participation of the divine nature. We are,
therefore, in God through Christ eternaUy, according to that intent
and purpose whereby we are chosen to be made his in this present
world before the world itself was made. We are in God through the
knowledge which is had of us, and the love which is borne towards
us from everlasting ; but in God we actually are no longer than only
from the time of our actual adoption into the body of his true church,
— into the fellowship of his chUdren. For his church he knoweth and
loveth ; so that they which are in the church are thereby known to
be in him. Our being in Christ by eternal foreknowledge saveth us
not, without our actual and real adoption into the fellowship of his
saints in this present world. For in him we actuaUy are by our
actual incorporation into that society which hath him for thefr head,
and doth make together with him one body (he and they in that
respect having one name) ; for which cause, by virtue of this mystical
conjunction, we are of him, and in him, even as though our very flesh
and bones should be made continuate with his. We are in Christ,
because he knoweth and loveth us, even as parts of himself. No man
is actually in him but they in whom he actually is; for he which
hath not the Son of God hath not Ufe. ' I am the vine, ye are the
branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth

282 A VINDICATION OF
forth much fruit;' but the branch severed from the vine withereth.
We are, therefore, adopted sons of God to eternal life by participation
of the only begotten Son of God, whose life is the well-spring and
cause of ours. It is too cold an interpretation, whereby some men
expound our being in Christ to import nothing else but only that
the self-same nature which maketh us to be men is in him, and
maketh him man as we are. For what man in the world is there
which hath not so far forth communion with Jesus Christ? It is not
this that can sustain the weight of such sentences as speak of the
mystery of our coherence with Jesus Christ. The church is in Christ,
as Eve was in Adam. Yea, by grace we are every [one] of us in
Christ and in his church, as by nature we were in those, our first
parents. God made Eve of the rib of Adam; and his church he
frameth out of the very flesh, the very wounded and bleeding side,
of the Son of man. His body crucified, and his blood shed for the
life of the world, are the true elements of that heavenly being which
maketh us such as himself is of whom we come. For which cause
the words of Adam may be fitly the words of Christ concerning his
church, ' Flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bones;' — 'A true nature,
extract out of mine own body.' So that in him, even according to
his manhood, we, according to our heavenly being, are as branches
in that root out of which they grow. To aU things he is Ufe, and to
men light, as the Son of God; to the church, both life and light
eternal, by being made the Son of man for us, and by being in us a
Saviour, whether we respect him as God or as man. Adam is in us
as an origmal cause of our nature, and of that corruption of nature
which causeth death ; Christ as the cause original of restoration to
life. The person of Adam is not in us, but his nature, and the cor
ruption of his nature, derived into all men by propagation. Christ
having Adam's nature, as we have, but incorrupt, deriveth not nature
but incorruption, and that immediately from his own person, into all
that belong unto him. As, therefore, we are reaUy partakers of the
body of sin and death received from Adam; so, except we be truly'
partakers of Christ, and as really possessed of his Spfrit, all we speak
of eternal life is but a dream. That which quickeneth us is the Spfrit of
the second Adam, and his flesh that wherewith he quickeneth. That
which in him made our nature uncorrupt was the union of his Deity
with our nature. And in that respect the sentence of death and con
demnation, which only taketh hold upon sinful flesh, could no way
possibly extend unto him. This caused his voluntary death for others
to prevaU with God, and to have the force of an expiatory sacrifice.
The blood of Christ, as the apostle witnesseth, doth, therefore, take
away sin; because, 'Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself
unto Go<J without spot' That which sanctified our nature in Christ,

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 283
— that which made it a sacrifice available to take away sin, is the
same which quickened it, raised it out of the grave after death,
and exalted it unto glory. Seeing, therefore, that Christ is in us a
quickening Spirit, the first degree of communion with Christ must
needs consist in the participation of his Spfrit, which Cyprian in that
respect termeth ' germanissimam societatem,' — the highest and truest
society that can be between man and him, which is both God and
man in one. These things St Cyril duly considering, reproveth their
speeches which taught that only the Deity of Christ is the vine
whereupon we by faith do depend as branches, and that neither his
flesh nor our bodies are comprised in this resemblance. For doth
any man doubt but that even from the flesh of Christ our very bodies
do receive that Ufe which shaU make them glorious at the latter
day; and for which they are already accounted parts of his blessed
body? Our corruptible bodies could never live the life they shall live,
were it not that here they are joined with his body, which is incor
ruptible ; and that his is in ours as a cause of immortality, — a cause,
by removing, through the death and merit of his own flesh, that
which hindered the Ufe of ours. Christ is, therefore, both as God
and as man, that true vine whereof we both spiritually and corpo
rally are branches. The mixture of his bodUy substance with ours
is a thing which the ancient fathers disclaim. Yet the mixture of
his flesh with ours they speak of, to signify what our very bodies,
through mystical conjunction, receive from that vital efficacy which
we know to be in his; and from bodUy mixtures they borrow divers
simUitudes, rather to declare the truth than the manner of coherence
between his sacred [body] and the sanctified bodies of saints. Thus
much no Christian man wUl deny, that when Christ sanctified his
own flesh, giving as God, and taking as man, the Holy Ghost, he
did not this for himself only, but for our sakes, that the grace of
sanctification and life, which was first received in him, might pass
from him to his whole race, as malediction came from Adam unto all
mankind. Howbeit, because the work of his Spirit to those effects
is in us prevented by sin and death possessing us before, it is of
necessity that as well our present sanctification into newness of Ufe,
as the future restoration of our bodies, should presuppose a participa
tion of the grace, efficacy, merit, or virtue of his body and blood ; —
without which foundation first laid, there is no place for those other
operations of the Spirit of Christ to ensue. So that Christ imparteth
plainly himself by degrees. It pleaseth him, in mercy, to account
himself incomplete and maimed Without us. But most assured wo
are, that we aU receive of his fulness, because he is ih us as a mov
ing and working cause; from which many blessed effects are really
found to ensue, and that in sundry both kinds and degrees, all tend-

284 A VINDICATION OF
ing to eternal happiness. It must be confessed, that of Christ working
as a creator and a governor of the world, by providence all are par
takers; — not aU partakers of that grace whereby he inhabiteth whom
he saveth. Again: as he dweUeth not by grace in all, so neither
doth he equally work in all them in whom he dwelleth. ' Whence
is it,' saith St Augustine, ' that some be hoUer than others are, but ,
because God doth dweU in some more plentifully than in others?'
And because the divine substance of Christ is equally in aU, his
human substance equaUy distant from ah, it appeareth that the par
ticipation of Christ, wherein there are many degrees and differences,
must needs consist in such effects as, being derived from both natures
of Christ really into us, are made our own: and we, by having them
in us, are truly said, to have him from whom they come ; Christ also,
more or less, to inhabit and impart himself, as the graces are fewer
or more, greater or smaller, which- really flow into us from Christ.
Christ is whole with the whole church, and whole with every part of
the church, as touching his person, which can no way divide itself, or
be possessed by degrees and portions. But the participation of Christ
importeth, besides the presence of Christ's person, and besides the
mystical copulation thereof with the parts and members of his whole
church, a true actual influence of grace, whereby the Ufe which we
live according to godliness is his; and from him we receive those
perfections wherein our eternal happiness consisteth. Thus we par
ticipate Christ: — partly by imputation; as when those things which
he did and suffered for us are imputed unto us for righteousness; —
partly by habitual and real infusion; as when grace is inwardly be
stowed whUe we are on earth; — and afterward more fully, both our
souls and bodies made like unto his in glory. The first thing of his
so infused into our hearts in this Ufe is the Spfrit of Christ; where
upon, because the rest, of what kind soever, do all both necessarUy
depend and infallibly also ensue, therefore the apostles term it some
times the seed of God, sometimes the pledge of our heavenly inherit
ance, sometimes the hansel or earnest of that which is to come. From
whence it is that they which belong to the mystical body of our Sa
viour Christ, and be in number as the stars of heaven, — divided suc
cessively, by reason of their mortal condition, into many generations,
— are, notwithstanding, coupled every one to Christ thefr head, and
all unto, every particular person amongst themselves; inasmuch as
the same Spfrit which anointed the blessed soul of our Saviour Christ
doth so formalize, unite, and actuate his whole race, as if both he and
they were so many Umbs compacted into one body, by being quick
ened all with one and the same souL That wherein we are partakeis
of Jesus Christ by imputation, agreeth equally unto all that have it
for it consisteth in such acts and deeds of his as could not have longej '

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 285
continuance than whUe they were in doing, nor at that very time
belong unto any other but to him from whom they come: and there
fore, how men, either then, or before, or since, should be made par
takers of them, there can be no way imagined but only by imputation.
Again: a deed must either not be, imputed to any, but rest altogether
in him whose it is ; or, if at all it be imputed, they which have it by
imputation must have it such as it is, — whole. So that degrees being
neither in the personal presence of Christ, nor in the participation of
those effects which are ours by imputation only, it resteth that we
wholly apply them to the participation of Christ's infused grace ; al
though, even in this kind also, the first beginning of life, the seed of
God, the first-fruits of Christ's Spirit, be without latitude. For we
have hereby only the being of the sons of God: in which number,
how far soever one may seem to excel another, yet touching this, that
all are sons, they are all equals; some, happily, better sons than the
rest are, but none any more a son than another. Thus, therefore, we
see how the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father; how
they both are in all things, and all things in them : what communion
Christ hath with his church; how his church, and every member
thereof, is in him by original derivation, and he personally in them,
by way of mystical association, wrought through the gift of the Holy
Ghost ; which they that are his receive from him, and, together with
the same, what benefit soever the vital force of his body and blood
may yield; — yea, by steps and degrees they receive the complete mea
sure of all such divine grace as doth sanctify and save throughout, till
the day of thefr final exaltation to a state of fellowship in glory with
him, whose partakers they are now in those things that tend to glory.''
This one testimony ought to be enough unto this sort of men,
whilst they are at any consistency with their own reputation ; for it
is evident that there is nothing concerning personal election, effectual
vocation, justification by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ,
participation of him, union of believers unto and with his person,
derivation of grace from him, etc., which are so reproached by our
present author, but they are asserted by this great champion of the
church of England, who undoubtedly knew the doctrine which it
owned, and in his days approved, and that in such words and ex
pressions, as remote from the sentiments, or at least as unsavoury to
the palates, of these men, as any they except against in others.
And what themselves so severely charge on us in point of dis
cipline, that nothing be spoken about it until all is answered that is
written by Mr Hooker in its defence, may, I hope, not immodestly
be so far returned, as to desfre them that in point of doctrine they «
will grant us truce, until they have moved out of the way what is
written to the same purpose by Mr Hooker. Why do not they speak

286 A VINDICATION OF
to him to leave fooling, and to speak sense, as they do to others?
But let these things be as they are ; I have no especial concernment
in them, nor shall take any farther notice of them, but only as they
influence the exceptions which this author makes unto some passages
in that book of mine. And in what I shaU do herein, I shall take
as little notice as may be of those scurrilous and reproachful ex
pressions, which either his inclination or his circumstances induced
him to make use of. If he be pleased with such a course of pro
cedure, I can only assure him, that as to my concernment, I am not
displeased; and so he is left unto his full Uberty for the' future.
The first thing he quarrels about, is my asserting the necessity of
acquaintance with the person of Christ; which expression he fre
quently makes use of afterward in a way of reproach. The use of
the word " acquaintance," in this matter, is warranted by our trans
lation of the Scripture, and that properly, where it is requfred of us
to acquaint ourselves with God. And that I intended nothing
thereby but the knowledge of Jesus Christ, is evident beyond any
pretence to the contrary to be suggested by the most subtle or in
ventive malice. The crime, therefore, wherewith I am here charged,
is my assertion that it is necessary that Christians should know Jesus
Christ ; which I have afterward increased, by affirming also that they
ought to love him : for by Jesus Christ aU the world of Christians
intend the person of Christ; and the most of them, all of them,— the
Socinians only excepted, — by his person, " the Word made flesh," or
the Son of God incarnate, the mediator between God and man. For
because the name Christ is sometimes used metonymically, to con
clude thence that Jesus Christ is not Jesus Christ, or that it is not
the person of Christ that is firstly and properly intended by that
name in the gospel, is a lewd and impious imagination ; and we may
as weU make Christ to be only a Ught within us, as to be the doctrine
of the gospel without us. This knowledge of Jesus Christ I aver to
be the only fountain of all saving knowledge : which is farther reflected
on by this author; and he adds (no doubt out of respect unto me),
" that he will not envy the glory of this discovery unto its author;"
and therefore honestly confesseth that he met with it in my book.
But what doth he intend ? Whither will prejudice and corrupt de
signs carry and transport the minds of men ? Is it possible that he
should be ignorant that it is the duty of all Christians to know Jesus
Christ, to be acquainted with the person of Christ, and that this is
the fountain of all saving knowledge, until he met with it in my book
about communion with God; which I dare say he looked not into,
but only to find what he might except against? It is the Holy
Ghost himself that is the author of this discovery; and it is the great
fundamental principle of the gospel. Wherefore, surely, this cannot

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 287
be the man's intention; and therefore we must look a little farther, to
see what it is that he aimeth at After, then, the repetition of some
words of mine, he adds, as his sense upon them, p. 39, " So that it
seems the gospel of Christ makes a very imperfect and obscure dis
covery of the nature, attributes, and the will of God, and the methods
of our recovery. We may thoroughly understand whatever is revealed
in the gospel, and yet not have a clear and saving knowledge of these
things, until we get a more intimate acquaintance with the person of
Christ." And again, p. 40: "I shaU show you what additions these
men make to the gospel of Christ by an acquaintance with his person ;
and I confess I am very much beholden to this author, for acknow
ledging whence they fetch aU thefr orthodox and gospel mysteries,
for I had almost pored my eyes out with seeking for them in the
gospel, but could never find them; but I learn now, that indeed they
are not to be found there, unless we be first acquainted with the
person of Christ." So far as I can gather up the sense of these loose
expressions, it is, that I assert a knowledge of the person of Jesus
Christ which is not revealed in the gospel, which is not taught us in
the writings of Moses, the prophets, or apostles, but must be had
some other way. He tells me afterward, p. 41, that I put in a word
fallaciously, which expresseth the contrary; as though I intended
another knowledge of Christ than what is declared in the gospel.
Now, he either thought that this was not my design or intention, but
would make use of a pretence of it for his advantage unto an end
aimed at (which what it was I know well enough) ; or he thought,
indeed, that I did assert and maintain such a knowledge of the person
of Christ as was not received by Scripture revelation. If it was the
first, we have an instance of that new morality which these new
doctrines are accompanied withal; if the latter, he discovers how meet
a person he is to treat of things of this nature. Wherefore, to pre
vent such scandalous miscarriages, or futilous imaginations for the
future, I here tell him, that if he can find in that book, or any other
of my writings, any expression, or word, or syllable, intimating any
knowledge of Christ, or any acquaintance with the person of Christ,
but what is revealed and declared in the gospel, in the writings of
Moses, the prophets, and apostles, and as it Ls so revealed and declared,
and learned from thence, I wUl publicly burn that book with my own
hands, to give him and all the world satisfaction. Nay, I say more :
if an angel from heaven pretend to give any other knowledge of the
person of Christ, but what is revealed in the gospel, let him be ac
cursed. And here I leave this author to consider with himself, what
was the true occasion why he should first thus represent himself unto
the world in print, by the avowing of so unworthy and notorie us a
calumny.

288 A VINDICATION OF "
Whereas, therefore, by an acquaintance with the person of Christ,
it is undeniably evident that I intended nothing but that knowledge
of Christ which it is the duty of every Christian to labour after, — no
other but what is revealed, declared,- and delivered in the Scripture,
as almost every page of my book doth manifest where I treat of these
things; I do here again, with the good leave of this author, assert,
that this knowledge of Christ is very necessary unto Christians, and
the fountain of aU saving knowledge whatever. And as he may, if
he please, review the honesty and truth of that passage, p. 38, "So
that our acquaintance with Christ's person, in this man's divinity, sig
nifies such a knowledge of what Christ is, hath done, and suffered for
us, from whence we may learn those greater, deeper, and more saving
mysteries of the gospel, which Christ hath not expressly revealed to
us;" so I wiU not so far suspect the Christianity of them with whom
we have to do, as to think it necessary to confirm by texts of Scrip
ture either of these assertions; which whoever denies is an open
apostate from the gospel.
Having laid this foundation in an equal mixture of that truth and
sobriety wherewith sundry late writings of this nature and to the
same purpose have been stuffed, he proceeds to declare what desperate
consequences ensue upon the necessity of that knowledge of Jesus
Christ which I have asserted, addressing himself thereunto, p. 40.
Many instances of such dealings wUl make me apt to think that
some men, whatever they pretend to the contrary, have but little
knowledge of Jesus Christ indeed. But whatever this man thinks of
him, an account must one day be given before and unto him of such
false calumnies as his lines are stuffed withal. Those who wiU beUeve
him, that he hath almost " pored out his eyes" in reading the gospel,
with a design to find out mysteries that are not in it, are left by me
to their liberty ; only I cannot but say, that his way of expressing the
study of the Scripture, is [not?] such as becometh a man of his
wisdom, gravity, and principles. He-wiU, I hope, one day be better
acquainted with what belongs unto the due investigation of sacred
truth in the Scripture, than to suppose it represented by such chUdish
expressions. What he hath learned from me I know not ; but that I
have anywhere taught that there are mysteries of religion that are
not to be found in the gospel, unless we are first acquainted with the
person of Christ, is a frontless and impudent falsehood. I own no
other, never taught other knowledge of Christ, or acquaintance with
his person, but what is revealed and declared in the gospel; and
therefore, no mysteries of reUgion can be thence known and received,
before we are acquainted with the gospel itself. Yet I will mind
this author of that, whereof if he be ignorant, he is unfit to be a
teacher of others, and which if he deny, he is unworthy the name of

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 289
a Christian, — namely, that by the knowledge of the person of Christ,
the great mystery of God manifest in the flesh, as revealed and de
clared in the gospel, we are led into a clear and full understanding
of many other mysteries of grace and truth ; which are all centred in
his person, and without which we can have no true nor sound under
standing of them. I shall speak it yet again, that this author, if it
be possible, may understand it; or, however, that he and his co-part
ners in design may know that I neither am nor eyer wiU be ashamed
of it: — that without the knowledge of the person of Christ, which is
our acquaintance with him (as we are commanded to acquaint our
selves with God) as he is the eternal Son of God incarnate, the
mediator between God and man, with the mystery of the love, grace,
and truth of God therein, as revealed and declared in the Scripture,
there is no true, useful, saving knowledge of any other mysteries or
truths of the gospel to be attained. This being the substance of
what is asserted in my discourse, I challenge this man, or any to
whose pleasure and favour his endeavours in this kind are sacrificed,
to assert and maintain the contrary, if so be they are indeed armed
with such a confidence as to impugn the foundations of Christianity.
But to evince his intention, he transcribeth the ensuing passages
out of my discourse : — P. 41, " The sum of all true wisdom and know
ledge maybe reduced to these three heads: — 1. The knowledge of
God ; his nature and properties. 2. The knowledge of ourselves with
reference to the will of God concerning us. 3. Skill to walk in com
munion with God. In these three is summed up all true wisdom
and knowledge, and not any of them is to any purpose to be' obtained,
or is manifested, but only in and by the Lord Christ."
This whole passage I am far from disliking, upon this representa
tion of it, or any expression in it. Those who are not pleased with
this distribution of spiritual wisdom, may make use of any such of
their own wherewith they are better satisfied. This of mine was
sufficient unto my purpose. Hereon this censure is passed by him : —
" Where by is fallaciously added to include the revelations Christ
hath made ; whereas his first undertaking was, to show how impossible
it is to understand these things savingly and clearly, notwithstanding
aU those revelations God hath made of himself and his will by Moses
and the prophets, and by Christ himself, without an acquaintance
with his person." The fallacy pretended is merely of his own coining;
my words are plain, and suited unto my own purpose, and to declare
my mind in what I intend; which he openly corrupting, or not at
aU understanding, frames an end never thought of by me, and then
feigns fallacious means of attaining it. The knowledge I mean is to
be learned by Christ; neither is any thing to be learned in him but
what is learned by him. I do say, indeed, now, whatever I have said
VOL. II. 19

290 A VINDICATION OF
before, that it is impossible to understand any sacred truth savingly
and clearly, without the knowledge of the person of Christ ; and shall
say so still, let this man and his companions say what they wiU to
the contrary : but that in my so saying I exclude the consideration
of the revelations which Christ hath made, or that God hath made
of himself by Moses and the prophets, and Christ himself, the prin
cipal whereof concern his person, and whence alone we come to know
him, is an assertion becoming the modesty and ingenuity of this author.
But hereon he proceeds, and says, that as to the first head he wiU
take notice of those peculiar discoveries of the nature of .God of which
the world was ignorant before, and of which revelation is whoUy sUent,
but are now clearly and savingly learned from an acquaintance with
Christ's person. But what, in the meantime, is become of modesty,
truth, and honesty? Do men reckon that there is no account to be
given of such falsifications? Is there any one word or tittle in my
discourse of any such knowledge of the nature or properties of God
as whereof revelation is wholly silent? What doth this man intend?
Doth he either not at aU understand what I say; or doth he not care
what he says himself? What have I done to him? wherein have 1}
injured him? how have I provoked him, that he should sacrifice his
conscience and reputation unto such a revenge? Must he yet hear
it again? I never thought, I never owned, I never wrote, that there
was any acquaintance to be obtained with any property of the nature
of God by the knowledge of the person of Christ, but what is taught
and revealed in the gospel; from whence alone aU knowledge of
Christ, his person, and his doctrine, is to be learned. And yet I
will say again, if we learn not thence to know the Lord Christ, — that
is, his person, — we shall never know any thing of God, ourselves, or
our duty, clearly and savingly (I use the words again, notwithstand
ing the reflections on them, as more proper in this matter than any
used by our author in his eloquent discourse), and as we ought to do.
From hence he proceeds unto weak and confused, discourses about
the knowledge of God and his properties without any knowledge of
Christ; for he not only teUs us " what reason we had to believe such
and such things of God, if Christ had never appeared in the world,''
(take care, I pray, that we be thought as Uttle beholden to Him as
may be), " but that God's readiness to pardon, and the Uke, are plainly
revealed in the Scripture, without any farther acquaintance with the
person of Christ," p. 43. What this farther acquaintance with the
person of Christ should mean, I do not well understand : it may be,
any more acquaintance with respect unto some that is necessary; —
it may be, without any more ado as to an acquaintance with him.
And if this be his intention, — as it must be, if there be sense in his
words, — that God's readiness to pardon sinners is revealed in tbo Snrl-o-

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE 291
ture without respect unto the person of Jesus Christ, it is a piece
of dull Socinianism; which, because I have sufficiently confuted else
where, I shall not here farther discover the folly of. [As] for a know
ledge of God's essential properties by the light of nature, it was never
denied by me; yea, I have written and contended for it in another
way than can be impeached by such trifling declamations. But yet,
with his good leave, I do believe that there is no saving know
ledge of, or acquaintance with God or his properties, to be attained,
but in and through Jesus Christ, as revealed unto us in the gospel.
And this I can confirm with testimonies of the Scripture, fathers,
schoolmen, and divines of all sorts, with reasons and arguments, such
as I know this author cannot answer. And whatever great appre
hensions he may have of his skill and abilities to know God and his
properties by the light of nature, now that he neither knows nor is able
to distinguish what he learns from thence, and what he hath imbibed
in his education from an emanation of divine revelation ; yet I be
lieve there were as wise men as himself amongst those ancient phUo-
sophers, concerning whom and thefr inquiries into the nature of God
our apostle pronounces those censures, Rom. i. ; 1 Cor. i.
But on this goodly foundation he proceeds unto a particular infer
ence, p. 44, saying, " And is not this a confident man, to tell us that
the love of God to sinners, and his pardoning mercy, could never
have entered into the heart of man but by Christ, when the expe
rience of the whole world confutes him? For, whatever becomes of
his new theories, both Jews and heathens, who understood nothing
at aU of what Christ was to do in order to our recovery, did believe
God to be gracious and merciful to sinners, and had reason to do so ;
because God himself had assured the Jews that he was a gracious
and merciful God, pardoning iniquity, transgressions, and sins. And
those natural notions heathens had of God, and all those discoveries
God had made of himself in the works of creation and providence,
did assure them that God is very good : and it is not possible to un
derstand what goodness is, without pardoning grace/'
I beg his excuse : truth and good company will give a modest man
a little confidence sometimes; and against his experience of the
whole world, falsely pretended, I can oppose the testimonies of the
Scripture, and all the ancient writers of the church, very few ex
cepted. We can know of God only what he hath, one way or other,
revealed of himself, and nothing else; and I say again, that God
hath not revealed his love unto sinners, and his pardoning mercy,
any other way but in and by Jesus Christ. For what he adds as to
the knowledge which the Jews had of these things by God's revela
tion in the Scripture, when he can prove that all those revelations,
or any of them, had not respect unto the promised seed, — the Son of

292 A VINDICATION OF
God, — to be exhibited in the flesh to destroy the works of the devil,
he will speak somewhat unto his purpose. In the meantime, this
insertion of the consideration of them who enjoyed that revelation of
Christ which God was pleased to build his church upon under the
Old Testament, is weak and impertinent. Thefr apprehensions, I
acknowledge, concerning the person of Christ, and the speciality of
the work of his mediation, were dark and obscure ; but so, also, pro
portionably was thefr knowledge of all other sacred truths, which yet
with all diligence they inquired into. That which I intended is
expressed by the apostle, 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10, " It is written, Eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the
things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God
hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit." What a confident man
was this apostle, as to affirm that the things of the grace and mercy
of God did never enter into the heart of man to conceive, nor would
so have done, had they not been revealed' by the Spfrit of God in the
gospel through Jesus Christ!
But this is only a transient charge. There ensues that which is
much more severe, p. 45; as, for instance, "He tells us, ' that in Christ' -
(that is, in his death and sufferings for our sins) 'God hath manifested
the naturalness of this righteousness' (that is, vindictive justice in
punishing sin), ' that it was impossible that it should be diverted from
sinners without the interposing of a propitiation; that is, that God is
so just and righteous, that he cannot pardon sin without satisfaction
to his justice.' Now, this indeed is such a notion of justice as is
perfectly new, which neither Scripture nor nature acquaints us with ;
for aU mankind have accounted it an act of goodness, without the
least suspicion of injustice in it, to remit injuries and offences without
exacting any punishment, — that he is so far from being just, that he
is cruel and savage, who will remit no offence tUl he hath satisfied his
revenge." The reader who is in any measure or degree acquainted
with these things, knows fuU well what is intended by that which I
have asserted. It is no more but this, — that such is the essential
holiness and righteousness of the nature of God, that, considering him
as the supreme governor and ruler of all mankind, it was inconsis
tent with the holiness and rectitude of his rule, and the glory of Ins
government, to pass by sin absolutely, or to pardon it without satis
faction, propitiation, or atonement. This, I said, was made evident
in the death and sufferings of Christ, wherein God made all our
iniquities to meet upon him, and spared him not, that we might
obtain mercy and grace. This is here now caUed out by our author
as a very dangerous or fooUsh passage in my discourse, which he
thought he might highly advantage his reputation by reflecting upon.
But as the orator said to his adversary, " Equidem vehementer laetor

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 293
eum esse me, in quem tu cum cuperes, nuUam contumeliam jacere
potueris, quaa non ad maximam partem civium convenerit,"— so it is
here faUen out. If this man knows not that this is the judgment of
the generality of the most learned divines of Europe upon the matter,
of all who have engaged with any success against the Socinians, one
or two only excepted, I can pity him, but not relieve him in his
unhappiness, unless he wUl be pleased to take more pains in reading
good books than as yet he appeareth to have done. But for the thing
itself, and his reflections upon it, I shaU observe yet some few things,
and so pass on; — as first, the opposition that he makes unto my
position is nothing but a crude assertion of one of the meanest and
most absurd sophisms which the Socinians use in this cause, — namely,
that every one may remit injuries and offences as he pleaseth, without
exacting any punishment : which, as it is true in most cases of injuries
and offences against private persons, wherein no others are concerned
but themselves, nor are they obUged by any law of the community
to pursue their own right ; so, with respect unto public rulers of the
community, and unto such injuries and offences as are done against
supreme rule, tending directly unto the dissolution of the society
centring in it, to suppose that such rulers are not obliged to inflict
those punishments which justice and the preservation of the com
munity doth require, is a fond and ridiculous imagination, — destruc
tive, if pursued, unto aU human society, and rendering government a
useless thing in the world. Therefore, what this author (who seems
to understand very little of these things) adds, " that governors may
spare or punish as they see reason for it;" if the nile of that reason
and judgment be not that justice which respects the good and benefit
of the society or community, they do amiss, and sin, in sparing and
punishing : which I suppose he will not ascribe unto the government
of God. But I have fully debated these things in sundry writings
against the Socinians; so that I will not again enlarge upon them
without a more important occasion. It is not improbable but he
knows where to find those discourses ; and he may, when he please,
exercise his skUl upon them. Again : I cannot but remark upon the
consequences that he chargeth this position withal; and yet I cannot
do it without begging pardon for. repeating such horrid and desperate
blasphemies. P. 46, " The account," saith he, " of this is very plain;
because the justice of God hath glutted itself with revenge on sin in
the death of Christ, and so henceforward we may be sure he wUl be
very kind, as a revengeful man is when his passion is over." P. 47,
" The sum of which is, that God is all love and patience when he hath
taken his fill of revenge; as others use to say that the devU is very
good when he is pleased." P. 59, " Tho justice and vengeance of God,
having thefr actings assigned them to the full, being glutted and

294 A VINDICATION OF
satiated with the blood of Christ, God may," etc. I desfre the reader
to remember that the supposition whereon all these inferences are
built, is only that of the necessity of "the satisfaction of Christ with
respect unto the hoUness and righteousness of God as the author of the
law, and the supreme governor of mankind. And is this language be
coming a son of the church of England? Might it not be more justly
expected from a Jew or a Mohammedan, — from Servetus or Socinus,
from whom it is borrowed, — than from a son of this church, in a book
published by licence and authority? But it is to no purpose to com
plain : those who are pleased with these things, let them be so. But
what if, after all, these impious, blasphemous consequences do follow
as much upon this author's opinion as upon mine, and that with a
greater show of probabUity? and what if, forgetting himself, within
a few leaves he says . the very same thing that I do, and casts himself
under his own severest condemnation ?
For the first : I presume he owns the satisfaction of Christ, and I
will suppose it until he directly denies it ; therefore, also, he owns and
grants that God would not pardon any sin, but upon a supposition of
a previous satisfaction made by Jesus Christ. Here, then, Ues aU the
difference between us; — that I say God could not, with respect unto
his holiness and justice, as the author of the law and governor of
the world, pardon sin absolutely without satisfaction : he says, that
although he' might have done so without the least diminution of his
glory, yet he would not, but would have his Son by his death and
suffering to make satisfaction for sin. I leave it now, not only to
every learned and impartial reader, but to every man in his wits who
understands common sense, whether the blasphemous consequences,
which I will not again defile ink and paper with the expression of,
do not seem to follow more directly upon his opmion than mine. For
whereas I say not that God requireth any thing unto the exercise
of grace and mercy, but what he grants that he doth so also ; — only I
say he doth it because requisite unto his justice; he, because he
¦chose it by a free act of his wUl and wisdom, when he might have
done otherwise, without the least disadvantage unto his righteous
ness or rule, or the least impeachment to the glory of his holiness.
The odious blasphemies mentioned do apparently seem to make a
nearer approach unto his assertion than unto mine. I cannot pro
ceed unto a farther declaration of it, because I abhor the rehearsal
of such horrid profaneness. The truth is, they follow not in the least
(if there be any thing in them but odious satanical exprobrations of
the truth of the satisfaction of Christ) on either opinion ; though I
say this author knows not well how to discharge himself of them.
But what if he be all this while only roving in his discourse about
the things that he hath no due comprehension of, merely out of a

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE 295
transporting desire to gratify himself and others, in traducing and
making exceptions against my writings ? What if, when he comes a
Uttle to himself, and expresseth the notions that have been instilled
into him, he saith expressly as much as I do, or have done in any
place of my writings? It is plain he does so, p. 49, in these words:
— " As for sin, the gospel assures us that God is an irreconcilable
enemy to all wickedness, it being so contrary to his own most holy
nature, that if he have any love for himself, and any esteem for his
own perfections and works, he must hate sin, which is so unlike him
self, and which destroys the beauty and perfection of his workman
ship. For this end he sent his Son into the world to destroy the
works of the devil," etc. Here is the substance of what at any time
on this subject I have pleaded for: — " God is an irreconcUable enemy
to all wickedness," — that it " is contrary to his holy nature, so that he
must hate it; and therefore sends his Son," etc. If sin be contrary
to God's holy nature, — if he must hate it, unless he wiU not love him
self, nor value his own perfections, and therefore sent his Son to
make satisfaction, we are absolutely agreed in this matter, and our
author hath lost " operam et oleum" in his attempt. But for the mat
ter itself, if he be able to come unto any consistency in his thoughts,
or to know what is his own mind therein, I do hereby acquaint him
that I have written one entire discourse1 on that subject, and have
lately reinforced the same argument in my Exercitations on the
Epistle to the Hebrews, wherein my judgment on this ppint is de
clared and maintained. Let him attempt an answer, if he please,
unto them, or do it if he can. What he farther discourseth on this
subject, pp. 46, 47, consisteth only in odious representations and vile
reflections on the principal doctrines of the gospel, not to be men
tioned without offence and horror. But as to me, he proceeds to
except, after his scoffing manner, against another passage, pp. 47, 48,
— " But, however, sinners have great reasons to rejoice in it, when they
consider the nature and end of God's patience and forbearance to
wards them, — viz., That it is God's taking a course, in his infinite
wisdom and goodness, that we should not be destroyed notwithstand
ing our sins; that as before, the least sin could not escape without
punishment, justice being so natural to God that he cannot forgive
without punishing; so the justice of God being now satisfied by the
death of Christ, the greatest sins can do us no hurt, but we shall
escape with a ' notwithstanding our sins.' This, it seems, we learn
from an acquaintance with Christ's person, though his gospel instructs
us otherwise, that ' without hoUness no man shall see God.'" But he
is here again at a loss, and understands not what he is about. That
1 Owen, in all probability, alludes to his " Diatriba de Justitist Divina." Sei
vol. x. of his Works. — Ed.

296 A VINDICATION OF
whereof he was discoursing is the necessity of the. satisfaction of
Christ, and that must be it which he maketh his inference from ; but
the passage he insists on, he lays down as expressive of the end of
God's patience and forbearance towards sinners, which here is of no
place nor consideration. But so it faUs out, that he is seldom at any
agreement with himself in any parts of his discourse ; the reason
whereof I do somewhat more than guess at. However, for the pas
sage which he cites out of my discourse, I Uke it so well, as that I
shaU not trouble myself to inquire whether it be there or no, or on
what occasion it is introduced The words are, — " That God hath, in
his justice, wisdom, and goodness, taken a course that we should not
be destroyed, notwithstanding our sins" (that is, to save sinners);
" for he that believeth, although he be a sinner, shall be saved ; and
he that believeth not shall be damned," as one hath assured us, whom
I desire to beUeve and trust unto. If this' be not so, what will be
come of this man and myself, with all our writings? for I know that
we are both sinners ; and if God wUl not save us, or deliver us from
destruction, notwithstanding our sins, — that is, pardon them through
the bloodshedding of Jesus Christ, wherein we have redemption, even
the forgiveness of sins, — it had been better for us that we had never
'been born. And I do yet again say, that God doth not, that he will
not, pardon the least sin, without respect unto the satisfaction of
Christ, according as the apostle declares, 2 Cor. v. 18-21; and the
expression which must be set on the other side, on the supposition
whereof the greatest sin can do us no harm, is this man's addition,
which his usual respect unto truth hath produced. But, withal, I
never said, I never wrote, that the only supposition of the satisfac
tion of Christ is sufficient of itself to free us from destruction by sin.
There is, moreover, requfred on our part, faith and repentance ; with
out which we can have no advantage by it, or interest in it. But he
seems to understand by that expression, " notwithstanding our sins,"
though we should Uve and die in our sins without faith, repentance.,
or new obedience; for he supposeth it sufficient to manifest the
folly of this assertion, to mention that declaration of the mind of
Christ in the gospel, that " without holiness no man shall see God."
I wonder whether he thinks that those who believe the satisfaction
of Christ, and the necessity thereof, wherein God " made him to be sin
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him," do believe that the personal holiness of men is [not] indis
pensably necessary unto the pleasing and enjoyment of- God. If he
suppose that the satisfaction of Christ and the necessity of our personal
holiness are really inconsistent, he must be treated in another manner:
if he suppose that although they are consistent, yet those whom he
opposeth do so trust to the satisfaction of Christ, as to judge that

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 297
faith, repentance, and holiness, are not indispensably necessary to sal
vation, he manifests how well skilled he is in their principles and
practices. I have always looked on it as a piece of the highest dis-
ingenuity among the Quakers, that when any one pleads for the satis
faction of Christ or the imputation of his righteousness, they will cla
morously cry out, and hear nothing to the contrary, " Yea, you are
for the saving of polluted, defiled sinners; let men live in their sins
and be all foul within, it is no matter, so long as they have a right
eousness and a Christ without them." I have, I say, always looked
upon it as a most disingenuous procedure in them, seeing no one is
catechised amongst us, who knoweth not that we press a necessity of
sanctification and holiness, equal with that of justification and right
eousness. And yet this very course is here steered by this author,
contrary to the constant declaration of the judgments of them with
whom he hath to do, — contrary to the common evidence of thefr
writings, preaching, praying, disputing unto another purpose ; and that
without relieving or countenancing himself by any one word, or ex
pression used or uttered by them. He chargeth [them] as though
they made holiness a very indifferent thing, and such as it doth hot
much concern any man whether hp have an interest in or no ; and I
know not whether is more marveUous unto me, that some men can
so far concoct all principles of conscience and modesty as to publish
such slanderous untruths, or that others can take contentment and
satisfaction therein, who cannot but understand their disingenuity and
falsehood. His proceed in the same page is to except against that revelation
of the wisdom of God which I affirm to have been made in the per
son and sufferings of Christ, which I thought I might have asserted
without offence. But this man will have it, that " there is no wis
dom therein, if justice be so natural to God, that nothing could satisfy
him but the death of his own Son." That any thing else could satisfy
divine justice but the sufferings and death of the Son of God, so far
as I know, he is the first that found out or discovered, if he hath yet
found it out. Some have imagined that God will pardon sin, and
doth so, without any satisfaction at all ; and some have thought that
other ways of the reparation of lost mankind were possible, without
this satisfaction of divine justice, which yet God in his wisdom deter
mined on ; but that satisfaction could be any otherwise made to divine
justice, but by the death of the Son of God incarnate, none have used
to say who know what they say in these things. " But wisdom," he
saith, " consists in the choice of the best and fittest means to attain
an end, when there were more ways than one of doing it; but it re
quires no great wisdom to choose when there is but one possible way."
Yea, this it is to measure God, — things infinite and divine, by our-

298 A VINDICATION OF
selves. Doth this man think that God's ends, as ours, have an exist
ence in themselves out of him, antecedent unto any acts of his divine
wisdom? Doth he imagine that he balanceth probable means for
the attaining of an end, choosiilg some and rejecting others? Doth
he surmise that the acts of divine wisdom with respect unto the end
and means are so really distinct, as the one to have a priority in time
before the others? Alas, that men should have the confidence to
publish such slight and crude imaginations! Again: the Scripture,
which so often expresseth the incarnation of the Son of God, and the
whole work of his mediation thereon, as the effect of the infinite
wisdom of God, — as that wherein the stores, riches, and treasures of it
are laid- forth, — doth nowhere so speak of it in comparison with other
means not so suited unto the same end, but absolutely, and as it is
in its own nature ; unless it be when it is compared with those typical
institutions which, being appointed to resemble it, some did rest in.
And lastly, whereas there was but this one way for the redemption
of mankind, and the restoration of the honour of, God's justice and
holiness, as he is the supreme lawgiver and governor of the universe;
and whereas this one way was not in the least pervious unto any
created understanding, angelical or human, nor could the least of its
concerns have ever entered into the hearts of any (nor, it may be, shall
they ever know or be able to find it out unto perfection, but it will
be left the object of their admiration unto eternity) ; — if this author
can see no wisdom, or no great wisdom, in the finding out and ap
pointing of this way, who can help it? I wish he would more diU
gently attend unto their teachings who are able to instruct him better;
and from whom, as having no prejudice agamst them, he may be
willing to learn.
But this is the least part of what this worthy censurer of theolo
gical discourses rebukes and corrects. For whereas I had said, that
we " might learn our disability to answer the mind and will of God
in all or any part of the obedience he requireth," — that is, without
Christ or out of him ; he adds, " That is, that it is impossible for us
to do any thing that is good, but we must be acted, like machines,
by an external force, — by the irresistible power of the grace and Spirit
of God. This, I am sure, is a new discovery; we learn no such thing
from the gospel, and I do iiot see how he proves it from an acquaint
ance with Christ." But if he intends what he speaks, " we can do
no good, but must be acted, like machines, by an external force," and
chargeth this on me, it is afalse accusation, proceeding from malice
or ignorance, or a mixture of both. If he intend, that we can of
ourselves do any thing that is spiritually good and acceptable before
God, without the efficacious work of the Spfrit and grace of God in
us, which I only deny, he is a Pelagian, and stands anathematized

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. Z99
by many councils of the ancient church. And [as] for what is my judg
ment about the impotency that is in us by nature unto any spiritual
good, — the necessity of the effectual operation of the Spirit of God
in and to our conversion, with his aids and assistances of actual grace
in our whole course of obedience, which is no other but that of the
ancient church, the most learned fathers, and the church of England
itself in former days, — I have now sufficiently declared and confirmed
it in another discourse; whither this author is remitted, either to
learn to speak honestly of what he opposeth, or to understand it
better, or answer it if he can.
He adds, " But still there is a more glorious discovery than this
behind; and that is, the glorious end whereunto sin is appointed and
ordained (I suppose he means by God) is discovered in Christ, —
namely, for the demonstration of God's vindictive justice, in measur
ing out to it a meet recompense of reward, and for the praise of God's
glorious grace in the pardon and forgiveness of it ; — that is, that it
could not be known how just and severe God is, but by punishing sin,
nor how good and gracious God is, but by pardoning of it; and, there
fore, lest his justice and mercy should never be known to the world,
he appoints and ordains sin to this end, — that is, decrees that men
shall sin that he may make some of them the vessels of his wrath,
and the examples of his fierce vengeance and displeasure, and others
the vessels of his mercy, to the praise and glory of his free grace in
Christ. This, indeed, is such a discovery as nature and revelation
could not make," p. 51 ; which, in the next page, he calls God's
" truckling and bartering with sin and the devil for his glory."
Although there is nothing in the words here reported as mine
which is not capable of a fair defence, seeing it is expressly affirmed
that " God set forth his Son to be a propitiation to declare his
righteousness," yet I know not how it came to pass that I had a
mind to turn unto the passage itself in my discourse, which I had
not done before on any occasion, as not supposing that he would
falsify my words, with whom it was so easy to pervert my meaning
at any time, and to reproach what he could not confute. But, that I
may give a specimen of this man's honesty and ingenuity, I shall
transcribe the passage which he excepts against, because I confess
it gave me some surprisal upon its first perusal. My words are these :
" There is a glorious end whereunto sin is appointed and ordained dis
covered in Christ, that others are unacquainted withal. Sin, in its
own nature, tends mer'ely to the dishonour of God, the debasement
of his majesty, and'the ruin of the creature in whom it is. Hell
¦itseU is but the filling of wretched creatures with the fruit of their
own devices. The comminations and threats of God in the law do
manifest one other end of it, — even the demonstration of the vindic-

300 A VINDICATION OF
tive justice of God in measuring out unto it a meet recompense of
reward. But here the law stays, and with it all other light, and dis
covers no other use or, end of it at aU. In the Lord Jesus Christ
there is the manifestation of another and more glorious end, to wit,
the praise of God's glorious grace in the pardon and forgiveness of
it ; — God having taken order in Christ, that that thing which tended
merely to his dishonour should be managed to his infinite glory, and
that which of all -things he desired to exalt, — even that he may be
known and believed to be a God pardoning iniquity, transgression,
and sin." Such was my ignorance, that I did not think that any
Christian, unless he were a professed Socinian, would ever have
made exceptions against any thing in this discourse ; the whole of it
being openly proclaimed in the gospel, and confirmed in the parti
culars by sundry texts of Scripture, quoted in the margin of my
book, which this man took no notice of. For the advantage he
would make from the expression about the end whereunto sin is
appointed and ordained, it is childish and ridiculous ; for every one
who is not wilfully bUnd must see, that, by " ordained," I intended,
not any ordination as to the futurition of sin, but to the disposal of
sin to its proper end being committed, or to ordain it unto its end
upon a supposition of its being; which quite spoils this author's ensu
ing harangue. But my judgment in this matter is better expressed
by another than I am able to do it myself, and, therefore, in his
words I shaU represent it. It is Augustine : saith he, " Saluberrime
confitemur quod rectissime credimus, Deum Dominumque rerum
omnium qui creavit omnia bona valde, et mala ex bonis exortura
esse prasscivit, et scivit magis ad suam omnipotentissimam bonitatem
pertinere, etiam de malis benefacere, quam mala esse non sinere;
sic ordinasse angelorum et hominum vitam, ut in ea prius ostenderet
quid posset eorum liberum arbitrium, deinde quid posset suae gratiae
beneficium, justitiseque judicium."
This, our author would have to be God's " bartering with sin and
the devil for his glory ;" the bold impiety of which expression, among
many others, for whose necessary repetition I crave pardon, mani
fests with what frame of spirit, with what reverence of God himself
and all holy things, this discourse is managed.
But it seems I add, that "the demonstration of God's justice in
measuring out unto sin a meet recompense of reward is discovered in
Christ, as this author says." Let him read again, " The commina-
tions and threatenings of God in the law," etc. If this man were
acquainted -with Christ, he could not but learn somewhat more of
truth and modesty, unless he be wilfully stupid. But what is the
crime of this paragraph? That which it teacheth is, that sin, in its
own nature, hath no end but the dishonour of God and the eternal

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 301
ruin of the sinner; that, by the sentence and curse of the law, God
hath manifested that he will glorify his justice in the punishing of it;
as also, that, in and through Jesus Christ, he will glorify grace and
mercy hi its pardon, on the terms of the gospel. What would he be
at? If he have a mind to quarrel with the Bible, and, to conflict the
fundamental principles of Christianity, to what purpose doth he cavil
at my obscure discourses, when the proper object of his displeasure
lies plainly before him?
Let us proceed yet a little farther with our author, although I con
fess myself to be already utterly wearied with the perusal of such
vain and frivolous imaginations. Yet thus he goes on, p. 53, "Thus
much for the knowledge, of ourselves with respect to sin, which is hid
only in the Lord Christ. But then we learn what our righteousness
is, wherewith we must appear before God, from an acquaintance with
Christ. We have already learned how unable we are to make atone
ment for our sins, without which they can never be forgiven, and how
unable we are to do any thing that is good ; — and yet nothing can
deUver us from the justice and wrath of God, but a full satisfaction
for our sins ; and nothing can give us a title to a reward, but a perfect
and unsinning righteousness. What should we do in this case? How
shall we escape hell, or get to heaven, when we can neither expiate
for our past sins, nor do any good for the time to come ? Why, here
we are relieved again by an acquaintance with Christ. His death
expiates former iniquities, and removes the whole guilt of sin. But
this is not enough, that we are not guUty, we must also be actually
righteous; not only all sin is to be answered for, but aU righteous
ness is to be fulfilled. Now, this righteousness we find only in
Christ; we are reconciled to God by his death, and saved by his
life. That actual obedience he yielded to the whole law of God,
is that righteousness whereby we are saved; we are innocent by
virtue of his sacrifice and expiation, and righteous with his right
eousness." What is here interposed, — that we cannot do any good for the time
to come, — must be interpreted of ourselves, without the aid or assist
ance of the grace of God. And the things here reported by this
author, are so expressed and represented, to expose them to reproach
and scorn, to have them esteemed not only false, but ridiculous. But
whether he be in his wits or no, or what he intends, so to traduce
and scoff at the fundamental doctrines of the gospel, I profess I know
not. What is it he would deny ? what is it he would assert ? Are
we able to make an atonement for our sins ? Can we be forgiven
without an atonement ? Can we of ourselves do any good without
the aid and assistance of grace ? Can any thing we do be a fulljatis-
faction for our sins, or deliver us from the wrath of God; that is, the

302 A VINDICATION OF
punishment due to our sins ? Doth not the death of Christ expipte
former iniquities, and remove the whole guilt of sin ? Is the contrary
to these things the doctrine of the church of England ? Is this the
religion which is authorized to be preached? and are these the opinions
that are licensed to be published unto all the world? But, as I
observed before, these things are other men's concernment more than
mine, and with them I leave them. But I have said, as he quotes
the place, " that we are reconcUed to God by the death of Christ,
and saved by his life, that actual obedience which he yielded to the
whole law of God." As the former part of these words are expressly
the apostle's, Rom. v. 10, and so produced by me; so the next words
I add are these of the same apostle, " If so be We are found in him,
not having on our own righteousness which is of the law, but the
righteousness which is of God by faith;" which he may do well to
consider, and answer when he can.
Once more, and I shall be beholden to this author for a little
respite of severity, whilst he diverts to the magisterial reproof of some
other persons. Thus, then, he proceeds, p. 55 :• — " The third part of
our wisdom is, to walk with God: and to that is required agreement,
acquaintance, a way, strength, boldness, and aiming at the same end;
and all these, with the wisdom of them, are hid in Jesus Christ." So
far are my words, to which he adds : " The sum of which, in short, is
this : — that Christ having expiated our sins, and fulfilled all righteous
ness for us, though we have no personal righteousness of our own, but
are as contrary unto God as darkness is to light, and death to Ufe, and
a universal pollution and defilement to a universal and glorious holi
ness, and hatred to love ; yet the righteousness of Christ is a sufficient,
nay, the only foundation of our agreement, and, upon that, of our
walking with God : though St John tells us, ' If we say that we
have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not
the truth; but if we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we
have fellowship one with another, . and the blood of Jesus Christ
his Son cleanseth us from all sin,' 1 John i. 6, 7. And our only
acquaintance with God and knowledge of him is hid in Christ, which
his word and works could not discover, as you heard above. And he
is the only way wherein we must walk with God; and we receive all
our strength from him ; and he makes us hold and confident too,
having removed the guilt of sin, so that now we may look justice in
the face, and whet our knife at the counter door, all our debts being
discharged by Christ, as these bold acquaintances and familiars <5f
Christ use to speak. And in Christ we design the same end that
God doth, which is the advancement of his own glory; that is, I
suppose, by trusting unto the expiation and righteousness of Christ
for salvation, without doing any thing ourselves, we take care that

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 303
God shall not be wronged of the glory of his free grace, by a com
petition of any merits and deserts of our own."
What the author affirms to be the sum of my discourse in that
place, which, indeed, he doth not transcribe, is, as to his affirmation
of it, as contrary to God as darkness is to light, or death to life, or
falsehood to the truth; that is, it is flagitiously false. That there
is any agreement with God, or walking with God, for any men wlu
have no personal righteousness of their own, but are contrary to God,
etc., I never thought, I never wrote, nor any thing that should give
the least countenance unto a suspicion to that purpose. The necessity
of an habitual and actual personal, inherent righteousness, of sancti
fication and.' holiness, of gospel obedience, of fruitfulness in good
works, unto all who intend to walk with God, or come to the enjoy
ment of him, I have asserted and proved, with other manner of argu
ments than this author is acquainted -withal. The remainder of his
discourse in this place is composed of immorality and profaneness.
To the first I must refer his charge, that " our only acquaintance
with God and knowledge of him is hid in Christ, which his word
could not discover," as he again expresseth it, pp. 98, 99, " But that
the reverend doctor confessed the plain truth, that thefr religion is
wholly owing to an acquaintance with the person of Christ, and could
never have been clearly and savingly learned from his gospel had
they not first grown acquainted with his person;" which is plainly
false. I own no knowledge of God, nor of Christ, but what is revealed
in the word, as was before declared. And unto the other head be
longs the most of what ensues; for what is the intendment of those
reproaches which are cast on my supposed assertions? Christ is the
only way wherein or whereby we must walk with God. Yes, so he
says, " I am the way;" " There is no coming to God but by me;" he
having consecrated for us in himself " a new and living way" of draw
ing nigh to God. We receive all our strength from him ; yes, for he
says, " Without me ye can do nothing." He makes us bold and con
fident also, having removed the guilt of sin. So the apostle tells u»,
Heb. x. 19-22. What then? what follows upon these plain, posi
tive, divine assertions of the Scripture? Why, then " we may louK
justice in the face, and whet our knife at the counter door." Goodly
son of the church of -England! Not that I impute these profane
scoffings unto the church itself, — which I shall never do until it be
discovered that the rulers of it do give approbation to such abomina
tions; but I would mind the man of his .relation to that church,
which, to my knowledge, teacheth better learning and manners.
From p. 57 to the end of his second section, p. 75, he giveth us
a scheme of religion, which, in his scoffing language, he says, " men
learn from an acquaintance with the person of Christ; and affirms,

304 A VINDICATION OF
" that there needs no more to expose it to scorn with considering
men than his proposal of it;" which therein he owns to be his design.
I know not any pecuUar concernment of mine therein, until he comes
towards the close of it ; which I shall particularly consider. But the
substance of the religion which he thus avowedly attempts to expose
to scorn, is the doctrine of God's eternal election; — of his infinite wis
dom in sending his Son to declare his righteousness for the forgive
ness of sins, or iu satisfying his justice, that sin might be pardoned,
to the praise of the glory of his grace; — of the imputation of the
righteousness of Christ unto them that do believe; — of a sense of sin,
humUiation for it, looking unto Christ for life and salvation, as the
IsraeUtes looked up to the brazen serpent in the wilderness ;^-of going
to Christ by faith for heaUng our natures and cleansing our sins;
with some other doctrines of the same importance. These are the
principles which, according to his ahUity, he sarcasticaUy traduceth
and endeavoureth to reflect scorn upon, by the false representation
of some of them, and debasing others with an intermixture of vUe
and profane expressions. It is not impossible but that some or other
may judge it thefr duty to rebuke this horrible (and yet were it not
for the ignorance and profaneness of some men's minds, every way
contemptible) petulancy. For my part I have other things to do,
and shall only add, that I know no other Christian state in the world
wherein such discourses would be allowed to pass under the signa
ture of public authority. Only I wish the author more modesty and
sobriety than to attempt, or suppose he shaU succeed, in exposing to
scorn the avowed doctrine in general of the church wherein he Uves;
and which hath in the parts of it been asserted and defended by the
greatest and most learned prelates thereof in the foregoing ages,
such as Jewell, Whitgift, Abbot, Morton, Usher, Hall, Davenant,
Prideaux, etc., with the most learned persons of its communion, as
Reynolds, Whitaker, Hooker, Sutcliffe, etc., and others innumerable;
— testified unto in the name of this church by the divines, sent by
pubhc authority to the synod of Dort; — taught by the principal prac
tical divmes of this nation; and maintained by the most learned of
the dignified clergy at this day. He is no doubt at Uberty to dissent
from the doctrine of the church, and of all the learned men thereof;
but for a young man to suppose that, with a few loose, idle words, he
shaU expose to scorn that doctrine which the persons mentioned, and
others innumerable, have not only explained, confirmed, and defended,
with pains indefatigable, aU kind of learning and skiU, ecclesiastical,
philosophical, and theological, in books and volumes, which the Chris
tian world as yet knoweth, peruseth, and prizeth, but also lived long
in fervent prayers to God for the revelation of his mind and truth
unto them, and in the holy practice of obedience suited unto the

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 305
doctrines they professed, — is somewhat remote from that Christian
humility which he ought not only to exercise in himself, but to give
an example of unto others. But if this be the fruit of despising the
knowledge of the person of Christ, — of the necessity of his satisfaction,
— of the imputation of his righteousness, — of union unto his person
as our head, — of a sense of the displeasure of God due to sin, — of the
spirit of bondage and adoption, — of the corruption of nature, and our
disabUity to do any thing that is spiritually good without the effectual
aids of grace ; — if these, I say, and the Uke issues of appearing pride
and elation of mind, be the fruit and consequent of rejecting these
principles of the doctrine of the gospel, it manifests that there is, and
wUl be, a proportion between the errors of men's minds and the
depravation of their affections. It were a most easy task to go over
aU the particulars mentioned by him, and to manifest how foully he
hath prevaricated in their representation, — how he hath cast contempt
on some duties of religion indispensably necessary unto salvation; and
brought in the very words of the Scripture, — and that in the true
proper sense and intendment of them, according to the judgment of
all Christians, ancient and modern (as that of looking to Christ, as the
Israelites looked to the brazen serpent in the wUderness), — to bear a
share and part in his scorn and contempt: as also, to defend and
vindicate, not his odious, disingenuous expressions, but what he invidi
ously designeth to expose, beyond his ability to gainsay, or with any
pretence of sober learning to reply unto. But I give it up into the
hands of those who are more concerned in the chastisement of such
imaginations. Only, I cannot but tell this author what I have learned
by long ' observation, — namely, that those who, in opposing others, -
make it their design to [publish] and place their confidence in false
representations, and invidious expressions of their judgments and opi
nions, waiving a true stating of the things in difference, and weighing
of the arguments wherewith they are confirmed, — whatever pretence
they may maite of confidence, and contempt of them with whom they
have to do, yet this way of writing proceeds from a secret sense of
thefr disabUity to maintain their own opinions, or to reply to the
reasonings of their adversaries in a fair and lawful disputation; or
from. such depraved affections as are sufficient to deter any sober
person from the least communication in those principles which are
so pleaded for. And the same I must say of that kind of writing
(which in some late authors fills up almost every page in thefr books)
which, beyond a design to load the persons of men with reproaches
and calumnies, consists only in the collecting of passages here and
there, up and down, out of the writings of others; which, as cut off
from the body of their discourses, and design of the places which they
belong unto, may, with a Uttle artifice, either of addition or detrac-
VOL. II. 20

306 A VINDICATION OF
tion, with some false glosses, whereof we shaU have an immediate
instance, be represented weak, or untrue, or improper, or some way
or other obnoxious to censure. When diUgence, modesty, love of
truth, sobriety, true use of learning, shall agam visit the world in a
more plentiful manner; though differences should continue amongst
us, yet men wUl be enabled to manage them honestly, without con
tracting so much guUt on themselves, or giving such fearful offence
and scandal unto others. But I return.
That wherein I am particularly concerned, is the close wherewith
he winds up this candid, ingenious discourse, p. 74. He quotes my
words, " That ' the soul consents to take Christ on his own terms, to
save him in his own way; and saith, Lord, I would have had thee
and salvation in my way, that it might have been partly of mine
endeavours, and as it were by the works of the law' (that is, by obey
ing the laws of the gospel) ; ' but I am now wUling to receive thee, and
to be saved in thy way, merely by grace' (that is, without doing any
thing, without obeying thee). The most contented spouse, certainly,
that ever was in the world, to submit to such hard conditions as to
be saved for nothing. But what a pretty compliment doth the soul
make to Christ after all this, when she adds, ' And though I would
have walked according to my own mind, yet now I whoUy give up
myself to be ruled by thy Spirit.'"
If the reader wUl be at the pains to look on the discourse whence
these passages are taken, I shaU desire no more of his favour but
that he profess himself to be a Christian, and then let him freely
pronounce whether he find any thing in it obnoxious to censure. Or,
I desire that any man, who hath not forfeited aU reason and ingenuity
unto faction and party, if he differ from me, truly to state wherein,
and oppose what I have said with an answer unto the testimonies
wherewith it is confirmed, referred unto in the margin of my discourse.
But the way of this author's proceeding, if there be no plea to be
made for it from his ignorance and unacquaintedness not only with
the person of Christ, but with most of the other things he undertakes
to write about, is altogether inexcusable. The way whereby I have
expressed the consent of the soul in the receiving of Jesus Christ, to be
justified, sanctified, saved by him, I stUl avow, as suited unto the mind
of the Holy Ghost, and the experience of them that really believe.
And whereas I added, that before beUeving. the soul did seek for sal
vation by the works of the law, as it is natural unto all, and as the
Holy Ghost affirms of some (whose words alone I used, and expressly
quoted that place from whence I took them, — namely, Rom. ix. 31,
32 ;)— this man adds, as an exposition of that expression, " That is,
by obeying the laws of the gospel." But he knew that these were
the words of the apostle, or he did not; if he did not, nor wouM tek«

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE 307
notice of them so to be, although dfrected to the place from whence
they are taken, it is evident how meet he is to debate matters of this
nature and concernment, and how far he is yet from being in danger
to " pore out his eyes" in reading the Scripture, as he pretends. If he
did know them to be his words, why doth he put such a sense upon
them as, in his own apprehension, is derogatory to gospel obedience?
Whatever he thought of beforehand, it is likely he will now say that
it is my sense, and not the apostle's, which he intends. But how will
he prove that I intended any other sense than that of the apostle?
how should this appear? Let him, if he can, produce any word in
my whole discourse intimating any other sense. Nay, it is evident
that I had no other intention but only to refer unto that place of
the apostle, and the proper sense of it; which is to express the mind
and actings of those who, being ignorant of the righteousness of God,
go about to establish their own righteousness ; as he farther explains
himself, Rom. x. 3, 4. That I could not intend obedience unto the
laws of the gospel is so evident, that nothing but abominable preju
dice or ignorance could hinder any man from discerning it. For that
faith which I expressed by the soul's consent to take Christ as a
saviour and a ruler, is the very first act of obedience unto the gospel:
so that therein or thereon to exclude obedience unto the gospel, is to
deny what I assert ; which, under the favour of this author, I under
stand myself better than to do. And as to all other acts of obedience
unto the laws of the gospel, foUowing and proceeding from sincere
beUeving, it is openly evident that I could not understand them,
when I spake only of what was antecedent unto them. And if this
man knows not what transactions are in the minds of many before
they do come unto the acceptance of Christ on his own terms, or be
lieve in him according to the tenor of the gospel, there is reason to
pity the people that are committed unto his care and instruction,
what regard soever ought to be had unto himself. And his pitiful
trifling in the exposition he adds of this passage, " To be saved without
doing any thing, without obeying thee, and'the law," doth but increase
the guUt of his prevarications; for the words immediately added in
my discourse are, — " And although I have walked according unto
mine own mind, yet now I wholly give up myself to be ruled by thy
Spirit;" which, unto the understanding of all men who understand
any thing in these matters, signify no less than an engagement unto
the universal relinquishment of sin, and entire obedience unto Jesus
Christ in all things. " But this," saith he, " is a pretty compliment
that the soul makes to Christ after all." But why is this to be
esteemed only a " pretty compliment?" It is spoken at the same time,
and, as it were, with the same breath, there being in the discourse no
period between this passage and that before; and why must it be

308 A VINDICATION OF
esteemed quite of another nature, so that herein the soul should only
compliment, and be real in what is before expressed? What if one
should say, it was real only in this latter expression and engagement,
— that the former was only a " pretty compUment?" May it not, with
respect unto my sense and intention (from any thing in my words, or
that can be gathered from them, or any circumstances of the place),
be spoken with as much regard unto truth and honesty? What re
Ugion these men are of I know not. If it be such as teacheth them
these practices, and countenanceth them in them, I openly declare
that I am not of it, nor would be so for aU that this world can afford
I- shall have done, when I have desired him to take notice, that I not
only believe and maintain the necessity of obedience unto aU the laws,
precepts, commands, and institutions of the gospel, — of universal holi
ness, the mortification of all sin, fruitfulness in good works, in all that'
intend or design salvation by Jesus Christ; but also have proved and
confirmed my persuasion and assertions by better and more cogent
arguments than any which, by his writings, he seems as yet to be
acquainted withal. And unless he can prove that I have spoken or
written any thing to the contrary, or he can disprove the arguments
whereby I have confirmed it, I do here declare him a. person alto
gether unfit to be dealt withal about things of this nature, his igno
rance or malice being invincible ; nor shall I, on any provocation, ever
hereafter take notice of bim until he hath mended his manners.
His third section, p. 76, consists of three parts: — First, "That
some" (wherein it is apparent that I am chiefly, if not only, intend
ed) " do found a religion upon a pretended acquaintance with Christ's
person, without and besides the gospel;" whereunto he opposeth his
running .title of " No acquaintance with Christ but by revelation."
Secondly, A supposition of a scheme of religion drawn from the know
ledge of Christ's person; whereunto he opposeth another, which he
judgeth better. Thirdly, An essay to draw up the whole plot and de
sign of Christianity, with the method of the recovery of sinners unto
God. In the first of these, I suppose that I am, if not solely, yet prin-
cipaUy, intended ; especially considering what he affirms, pp. 98, 99,
— namely, that " I plainly confess our religion is wholly owing unto
acquaintance with the person of Christ, and could never have been
clearly and savingly learned from the gospel, had we not first grown
acquainted with hisperson." Now, herein there is an especial instance
of that truth and honesty wherewith my writings are entertained by
this sort of men. It is true, I have asserted that it is necessary for
Christians to know Jesus Christ, — to be acquainted with his person;
that is (as I have fully and largely declared it in the discourse ex
cepted against), the glory of his divine nature, the purity of his human,
the infinite condescension of his person in the assumption of our na-

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 309
ture, his love and grace, etc., as is at large there declared : and now
I add, that he by whom this is denied is no Christian. Secondly, I
have taught, that by this knowledge of the person of Christ, or an
understanding of the great mystery of godliness, God manifested in
the flesh, which we ought to pray for and labour after, we come more
fully and clearly to understand sundry other important mysteries of
heavenly truth; which without the knowledge of Christ we cannot
attain unto. And how impertinent this man's exceptions are against
this assertion, we have seen already. But, thirdly, That this know
ledge of Christ, or acquaintance with him, is to be attained before
we come to know the gospel, or by any other means than the gospel,
or is any other but the declaration that is made thereof in and by
the gospel, was never thought, spoken, or written by me, and is here
falsely supposed by this author, as elsewhere falsely charged on me.
And I again challenge him to produce any one letter or tittle out of
any of my writings to give countenance unto this frontless calumny.
And therefore, although I do not like his expression, . p. 77, "Who
ever would understand the reUgion of our Saviour, must learn it from
his doctrine, and not from his person," for many reasons I could give ;
yet I beUeve no less than he, that the efficacy of Christ's mediation
depending on God's appointment can be known only by revelation,
and that no man can draw any one conclusion from the person of
Christ which the gospel hath not expressly taught ; because we can
know no more of its exceUency, worth, and works, than what is there
revealed: whereby he may see how miserably Ul-will, malice, or igno
rance has betrayed him into the futUous pains of writing this section
upon a contrary supposition falsely imputed unto me. And as for
his drawing schemes of religion, I must tell him, and let him dis
prove it if he be able, I own no religion, no article of faith, but what
is taught expressly in the Scripture, mostly confirmed by {he ancient
general councUs of the primitive church, and the writings of the most
learned fathers, against aU sorts of heretics, especially the Gnostics,
Photinians, and Pelagians, consonant to the articles of the church of
England, and the doctrine of all the reformed churches of Europe.
And if in the exposition of any place of Scripture I dissent from any
that, for the substance of it, own the religion I do, I do it not with
out cogent reasons from the Scripture itself; and where, in any opi
nions which learned men have (and, it may be, always had) different
apprehensions about, which hath not been thought to prejudice the
unity of faith amongst them, I hope I do endeavour to manage that
dissent with that modesty and sobriety which becometh me. And as
for the schemes, plots, or designs of religion or Christianity, given us
by this author and owned by him (it being taken pretendedly from
the person of Christ, when it is hoped that he may have a better to

310 A VINDICATION OF
give us from the gospel, seeing he hath told us we must learn our
religion from his doctrine and not from his person) ; besides that it is
liable unto innumerable exceptions in particular, which may easUy
be given in against it by such as have nothing else to do, whereas it
makes no mention of the effectual grace of Christ and the gospel for
the conversion and sanctification of sinners, and the necessity thereof
unto all acts of holy obedience, — it is merely Pelagianism, and stands
anathematized by sundry councils of the ancient church. I shall not;
therefore, concern myself farther in any passages of this section, most
of them wherein it reflects on others standing in competition for truth
and ingenuity with the foundation and design of the whole ; only I
shaU say, that the passage of pp. 88, 89, — " This made the divine good
ness so restlessly zealous and concerned for the recovery of mankmd;
various ways he attempted in former ages, but with little success, as
I observed before; but at last God sent his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
into the world," — without a very cautious explanation and charitable
construction, is false, scandalous, and blasphemous. For aUow this
author, who contends so severely for propriety of expressions, against
allusions and metaphors, to say that the divine goodness was " rest
lessly zealous and concerned" (for, indeed, such is our weakness, that,
whether we wiU or no, we must sometimes learn and teach divine
things in such words as are suited to convey an apprehension of them
unto our minds, though, in thefr application unto the divine nature;
they are incapable of being understood in the propriety of thefr sig
nification, though this be as untowardly expressed as any thing I have
of late met withal) ; yet what colour can be put upon, what excuse
can be made for, this doctrine, that " God in former ages, by various
ways, attempted the recovery of mankind, but with Uttle success," I
know not. Various attempts in God for any end without success, do
not lead the mind into right notions of his infinite wisdom and omni-
potency; and that God, by any way, at any time, attempted the
recovery of mankind distinctly and separately from the sending of his
Son, is lewdly false.
In the greatest part of his fourth section, entitled, " How men
pervert the Scripture to make it comply with their fancy," I am not
much concerned; save that the foundation of the whole, and that
which animates his discourse from first to last, is laid in an impudent
calumny, — namely, that I declare that " our religion is wholly owing
to an acquaintance with the person of Christ, and could never have
been clearly and savingly learned from his gospel, had we not first
grown acquainted with his person." This shameless falsehood is that
alone whence he takes occasion and confidence to reproach myself
and others, to condemn the doctrine of all the reformed- churches,
and openly to traduce and vilify the Scripture itself. I shall only

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE 311
briefly touch on some of the impotent dictates of this great corrector
of divinity and reUgion. His discourse of accommodating Scripture
expressions to men's own dreams, pp. 99-101, being such as any man
may use concerning any other men on the like occasion, if they have
a mind unto it, and intend to have no more regard to thefr consciences
than some others seem to have, may be passed by. P. 1 02, he falls
upon the ways of expounding Scripture among those whom he sets
himself against, and positively affirms, " that there are two ways of
it in great vogue among them: — First, By the sound and clink of
the words and phrases ; which, as he says, is all some men understand
by keeping a form of sound words. Secondly, When this wUl not
do, they reason about the sense of them from thefr own preconceived
notions and opinions, and prove that this must be the meaning of
Scripture, because otherwise it is not reconcUable to their dreams;
which is called expounding Scripture by the analogy of faith."
Thus far he; and yet we shall have the same man not long hence
pleading for the necessity of hoUness. But I wish, for my part, he
would take notice that I despise that hb-Uness, and the principles of
it, which will aUow men to coin, invent, and pubUsh such notorious
untruths against any sort of men whatever. And whereas, by what
immediately foUows, I seem to be principaUy intended in this charge,
as I know the untruth of it, so I have pubUshed some expositions on
some parts of the Scripture to the judgment of the Christian world;
to which I appeal from the censures of this man and his companions,
as also for those which, if I Uve and God will, I shaU yet publish;
and do declare, that, for reasons very satisfactory to my mind, I wiU
not come to him nor them to learn how to expound the Scripture.
But he wUl justify his charge by particular instances, teUing us,
p. 102, " Thus when men are possessed with a fancy of an acquaint
ance with Christ's person, then to know Christ can signify nothing
else but to know his person and aU his personal excellencies, and
beauties, fulness, and preciousness, etc. And when Christ is said to
be made -wisdom to us, this is a plain proof that we must learn all
our spiritual wisdom from an acquaintance with his person ; though
some duUer men can understand no more by it than the wisdom of
those revelations Christ hath made of God's wUl to the world." I
would beg of this man, that if he hath any regard unto the honour
of Christian religion, or care of his own soul, he would be tender in
this matter, and not reflect with his usual disdain upon the know
ledge of the person of Christ. I must teU him again, what all Chris
tians believe, — Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God
incarnate. The person of Christ is Christ himseU, and nothing else;
his personal excellencies are the properties of his person, as his two
natures are united therein, and as he was thereby made meet to be

312 A VINDICATION OF
the mediator between God and man. To know Christ in the language
of the Scripture, [of] the whole church of God ancient and present, in
common sense and understanding, is to know the person of Christ as
revealed and declared in the gospel, with respect unto the ends for
which he is proposed and made known therein. And this knowledge
of him, as it is accompanied with, and cannot be without, the know
ledge of his mind and will, declared in his precepts, promises, and
institutions, is effectual to work and produce, in the souls of them
who so know him, that faith in him, and obedience unto him, which
he doth require. And what would this man have? He who is other
wise minded hath renounced his Christianity, if ever he had any;
and if he be thus persuaded, to what purpose is it to set up and
combat the mormos and chimeras of his own imagination? Well,
then, I do maintain, that to know Christ according to the gospel, is
to know the person of Christ; for Christ ahd his person are -the
same. Would he now have me to prove this by testimonies or argu
ments, or the consent of the ancient church? I must beg his excuse
at present; and so for the future, unless I have occasion to deal with
Gnostics, Familists, or Quakers. And as for the latter clause, wherein
Christ is said to be made wisdom unto us, he says, " Some duller
men can understand no more by it than the wisdom of those revela
tions Christ hath made of God's wUl to the world," — who are duU
men indeed, and so let them pass.
His ensuing discourses, in pp. 103-105, contain the boldest reflec
tions on, and openest derisions of, the expressions and way of teaching
spiritual things warranted in and by the Scripture, that to my know
ledge I ever read in a book Ucensed to be printed by public authority :
as, in particular, the expressions of faith in Christ, by " coming unto
him," and " receiving of him," — which are the words of the Holy
Ghost, and used by him in his wisdom to instruct us in the nature
of this duty, — are, amongst others, the subjects of his scorn. The first
part of it, though I remember not to have given any occasion to be
particularly concerned in it, I shall briefly consider. P. 103, " Thus
when men have first learned, from an acquaintance with Christ, to
place all their hopes of salvation in a personal union with Christ,
from whom they receive the free communications of pardon and
grace, righteousness and salvation, what more plain proof can any
man who is resolved to beUeve this, desfre of it, than 1 John v. 12,
' He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath
not Ufe?' And what can having the Son signify, but having an
interest in him, being made one with him? though some will be so
perverse as to understand it of beUeving, and having bis gospel. But
the phrase of ' having the Son,' confutes that dull and moral inter
pretation, especiaUy when we remember it is called, ' being in Christ,

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 31 3
and abiding in him ;' which must signify a very near union between
Christ's person and us."
I suppose that expression of " personal union" sprung out of de
sign, and not out of ignorance; for, if I mistake not, he doth some
where in his book take notice that it is disclaimed, and only a union
of beUevers with or unto the person of Christ asserted; or, if it be
his mistake, all comes to the same issue. Personal, or hypostatical
union, is that of different natures in the same person, giving them
the same singular subsistence. This none pretend unto with Jesus
Christ. But it is the union of believers unto the person of Christ
which is spiritual and mystical, whereby they are in him and he in
them, and so are one with him, thefr head, as members of his mysti
cal body, which is pleaded for herein, with the free communications
of grace, righteousness, and salvation, in the several and distinct ways
whereby we are capable to receive them from him, or be made par
takers of them ; [in this] we place all hopes of salvation. And we do
judge, moreover, that he who is otherwise mmded must betake himself
unto another gospel ; for he completely renounceth that in our Bibles.
Is this our crime, — that which we are thus charged with, and traduced
for ? Is the contrary hereunto the doctrine that the present church
of England appro veth and instructs her chUdren in ? Or doth any
man think that we will be scared from our faith and hope by such
weak and frivolous attempts against them ? Yea, but it may be it
is not so much the thing itself, as the miserable proof which we pro
duce from the Scripture in the confirmation of it ; for we do it from
that of the apostle, 1 John v. 12. If he think that we prove these
things only by this testimony, he is mistaken at his wonted rate. Our
faith herein is built upon innumerable express testimonies of the Scrip
ture, — indeed the whole revelation of the will of God and the way
of salvation by Jesus Christ in the gospel. Those who prove it, also,
from this text, have sufficient ground' and reason for what they plead.
And, notwithstanding the pleasant scoffing humour of this author,
we yet say that it is perverse foUy for any one to say that the having
of the Son or Christ expressed in the text, doth intend either the
having an interest in him and union with him, or the obeying of his
gospel, exclusively to the other, — these being inseparable, and included
in the same expression. And as to what he adds about being in
Christ, and abiding in him, — which are the greatest privileges of be
Uevers, and that as expressed in words taught by the Holy Ghost,— it
is of the same strain of profaneness with much of what ensues; which
I shall not farther inquire into.
I find not myself concerned in his ensuing talk, but only in one
reflection on the words of the Scripture, and the repetition of his old,
putid, and shameless calumny, p. 108, until we come to p. 126, where

314 A VINDICATION OF
he arraigns an occasional discourse of mine .about the necessity of
holmess and good works; wherein he hath only filched out of the
whole what he thought he could wrest unto his end, and scoffingly
descant upon. I shall, therefore, for once, transcribe the whole pas
sage as it lies in my book, and refer it to the judgment of the reader,
p. 206:1—" 2. The second objection is, ' That if ihe righteousness and obedi
ence of Christ to the law be imputed unto us, then what need we
yield obedience ourselves?' To this, also, I shall return answer as
briefly as I can in the ensuing observations: —
" (1.) The placing of our gospel obedience on the right foot of
account (that it may neither be exalted into a state, condition, use,
or end, not given it of God; nor any reason, cause, motive, end, ne
cessity of it, on the other hand, taken away, weakened, or impaired),
is a matter of great importance. Some make our obedience, the
works of faith, our works, the matter or cause of our justification;
some, the condition of the imputation of the righteousness of Christ;
some, the qualification of the person justified, on the one hand; some
exclude all the necessity of them, and turn the grace of God into
lasciviousness, on the other. To debate these differences is not my pre
sent business ; only, I say, on this and other accounts, the right stating
of our obedience is of great importance as to our walking with God.
" (2.) We do by no means assign the same place, condition, state,
and use to the obedience of Christ imputed to us, and our obedience
performed to God. If we did, they were really inconsistent. And
therefore those who affirm that our obedience is the condition or
cause of our justification, do all of them deny the imputation of the
obedience of Christ unto us. The righteousness of Christ is imputed
to us, as that on the account whereof we are accepted and esteemed
righteous before God, and are really so, though not inherently. We
are as truly righteous with the. obedience of Christ imputed to us as
Adam was, or could have been, by a complete righteousness of his
own performance. So Rom. v. 18, by his . obedience we are made
righteous, — made so truly, and so accepted ; as by the disobedience of
Adam we are truly made trespassers, and so accounted. And this is
that which the apostle desires to be found in, in opposition to his own
righteousness, PhU. iU. 9. But our own obedience is not the right
eousness wheieupon we are accepted and justified before God; although
it be acceptable to God that we should abound therein. And this
distinction the apostle doth evidently deliver and confirm, so as no
thing can be more clearly revealed: Eph. U. 8-10, ' For by grace are
ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of
1 In the present edition of Owen's Works, the passage will be found in p. 180
of this volume.

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 315
God : not of works, lest any man should boast. Fo* we are his work
manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath
prepared that we should walk in them.' We are saved, or justified
(for that it is whereof the apostle treats), ' by grace through faith,'
which receives Jesus Christ and his obedience; ' not of works, lest
any man should boast' ' But what works are they that the apostle
intends?' The works of believers, as in the very beginning of the
next words is manifest : ' " For we are," we believers, with our obedi
ence and our works, of whom I speak.' ' Yea; but what need, then,
of works?' Need stUl there is: ' We are his workmanship,' etc.
"-Two things the apostle intimates in these words : —
" [1.] A reason why we cannot be saved by works, — namely, be
cause we do them not in or by our own strength; which is necessary
we should do, if we will be saved by them, or justified by them. ' But
this is not so,' saith the apostle; 'for we are the workmanship of
God,' etc. ; — aU our works are wrought in us, by full and effectual,
undeserved grace.
" [2.] An assertion of the necessity of good works, notwithstanding
that we are not saved by them; and that is, that God has ordained
that we shall walk in them: which is a sufficient ground of our
obedience, whatever be the use of it.
" If you will say, then, ' What are the true and proper gospel grounds,
reasons, uses, and motives of our obedience; whence the necessity
thereof may be demonstrated, and our souls be stirred up to abound
and be fruitful therein?' I say, they are so many, and he so deep
in the mystery of the gospel and dispensation of grace, spread them
selves so throughout the whole revelation of the will of God unto us,
that to handle them fully and distinctly, and to give them their due
weight, is a thing that I cannot engage in, lest I should be turned
aside from what I principally intend. I shall only give you some
brief heads of what might at large be insisted on: —
" 1st Our universal obedience and good works are indispensably
necessary, from the sovereign appointment and will of God ; Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost.
" In general. ' This is the wUl of God, even your sanctification,'
or holiness, 1 Thess. iv. 3. This is that which God wills, which he
requires of us, — that we be holy, that we be obedient, that we do his
will as the angels do in heaven. The equity, necessity, profit, and
advantage of this ground of our obedience might at large be insisted
on; and, were there no more, this might suffice alone, — if it be the
wall of God, it is our duty : —
" (1st.) The Father hath ordained or appointed it. It is the will of
the Father, Eph. ii. 10. The Father is spoken of personaUy, Christ
being mentioned as mediator.

316 A VINDICATION OF
" (2dly) The Son hath ordained and appointed it as mediator. John
xv. 16, 'I have ordained you, that ye should bring forth fruit' of
obedience, and that it should remain.' And, —
" (3dly.) The Holy Ghost appoints and ordains beUevers to works of
obedience and holiness, and to work holiness in others. So, in particu
lar, Acts xiu. 2, he appoints and designs men to the great work of obe
dience in preaching the gospel. And in sinning, men sin against him.
" 2dly. Our holiness, our obedience, work of righteousness, is one
eminent and especial end of the pecuUar dispensation of Father, Son,
and Spfrit, in the business of exalting the glory of God in our salva
tion, — of the electing love of the Father, the purchasing love of the
Son, and the operative love of the Spirit: —
" (ls£.) It is a pecuUar end of the electing love of the Father, Eph.
L 4, ' He hath chosen us, that we should be holy and without blame.'
So Isa, iv. 3, 4. His aim and design in choosing of us was, that we
should be holy and unblamable before him in love. This he is to
accomplish, and will bring about in them that are his. ' He chooses
us to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the
truth,' 2 Thess. ii 13. This the Father designed as the first and
immediate end of electing love; and proposes tbe consideration of that
love as a motive to holiness, 1 John iv. 8-10.
" (2dly.) It is so also of the exceeding love of the Son ; whereof the
testimonies are innumerable. I shall give but one or two : — Tit. ii. 14,
' Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify unto himself a pecuUar people, zealous of good works.'
This was his aim, his design, in giving himself for us; as Eph. v. 25-27,
'Christ loved the church, and gave himseU for it; that he might
sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word ; that
he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or
wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without
blemish.' 2 Cor. v. 15; Rom. vi. 11.
" (3dly.) It is the very work of the love of the Holy Ghost. His whole
work upon us, in us, for us, consists in preparing of us for obedience;
enabling of us thereunto, and bringing forth the fruits of it in us.
And this he doth in opposition to a righteousness of our own, either
before it or to be made up by it, Tit. iu. 5. I need not insist on this.
The fruits of the Spirit in us are known, Gal. v. 22, 23.
" And thus have we a twofold bottom of the necessity of our obe
dience and personal holiness: — God hath appointed it, he requires it;
and it is an eminent immediate end of the distinct dispensation of
( Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in the work of our salvation. If God's
sovereignty over us is to be owned, if his love towards us be to be
regarded, if the whole work of the ever-blessed Trinity, for us, in us,
be of any moment, our obedience is necessary.

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 31 7
" 3dly. It is necessary in respect of the end thereof; and that
whether you consider God, ourselves, or the world: —
" (1st.) The end of our obedience, in respect of God, is, his glory and
honour, Mai. i. 6. This is God's honour, — all that we give him. It
is true, he wiU take his honour from the stoutest and proudest rebel
in the world ; but aU we give him is in our obedience. The glorifying
of God by our obedience is all that we are or can be. Particularly, —
" [1st] It is the glory of the Father. Matt. v. 16, ' Let your light
so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify
your Father which is in heaven.' By our walking in the light of
faith doth glory arise to the Father. The fruits of his love, of his
grace, of his kindness, are seen upon us; and God is glorified in our
behalf. And, —
" [2dfy.] The Son is glorified thereby. It is the will of God that
as all men honour the Father, so should they honour the Son, John
v. 23. And how is this done? By beUeving in him, John xiv. 1;
obeying of him. Hence, John x-vii 10, he says he is glorified in be
Uevers; and prays for an increase of grace and union for them, that
he may yet be more glorified, and aU might know that, as mediator,
he was sent of God.
" [3c%.] The Spirit is glorified also by it. He is grieved by our
disobedience, Eph. iv. 30 ; and therefore his glory is in our bringing
forth fruit. He dweUs hi us, as in his temple; which is not to be
defiled. Holiness becometh his habitation for ever.
" Now, if this that hath been said be not sufficient to evince a neces
sity of our obedience, we must suppose ourselves to speak with a sort
of men who regard neither the sovereignty, nor love, nor glory of God,
Father, Son, or Holy Ghost. Let men say what they please, though
our obedience should be all lost, and never regarded (which is impos
sible, for God is not unjust, to forget our labour of love), yet here is
a sufficient bottom, ground, and reason of yielding more obedience
unto God than ever we shall do whUst we live in this world. I speak
also only of gospel grounds of obedience, and not of those that are,
natural and legal, which are indispensable to all mankind.
" (2dly.) The end in respect of ourselves immediately is threefold:
— [1st] Honour. [2cKy.] Peace. [3dZy.] Usefulness.
" [1st.] Honour. It is by hoUness that we are made Uke unto God,
and his image is renewed again in us. This was our honour at our
"creation, this exalted us above all our fellow-creatures here below, — -i
we were made in the image of God. This we lost by sin, and becam®
like the beasts that perish. To this honour, of conformity to God, of
bearing his image, are we exalted again by holiness alone. ' Be ye>
holy,' says God, 'for I am holy,' 1 Pet. L 16; and, 'Be ye perfect'
(that is, in doing good), 'even as your Father which is in heaven is per-

318 A VINDICATION OF
feet,' Matt v. 48, — in a Ukeness and conformity to him. And herein
is the image of God renewed; Eph. iv.,23, 24, therein we 'put on the
new man, which after God is created in righteousness and holiness
of truth.' This was that which originally was attended with power
and dominion; — is still all that is beautiful or comely in the world.
How it makes men honourable and precious in the sight of God, of
angels, of men ; how alone it is that which is not despised, which is
of price before the Lord ; what contempt and scorn he hath of them
in whom it is not, — in what abomination he hath them and aU their
ways, — might easily be evinced:
" [2cWy.] Peace. By it we have communion with God, wherein peace
alone is to be enjoyed. ' The wicked are like the troubled sea, that
cannot rest;' and, ' There is no peace' to them, 'saith my God,' Isa.
Ivii 20, 21. There is no peace, rest, or quietness; in a distance, sepa
ration, or alienation from God. He is the rest of our souls. In the
light of his countenance is life and peace. Now, 'if we walk in the
light, as he is in the Ught, we have fellowship one -with another,' 1 John
i. 7; 'and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son
Jesus Christ,' verse 3. He that walks in the light of new obedience,
he hath communion with God, and in his presence is fulness of joy
for ever; without it, there is nothing but darkness, and wandering, and
confusion. " [3rf£y.] Usefulness. A man without holiness is good for nothing.
' Ephraim,' says the prophet, ' is an empty vine, that brings forth
fruit to itself.' And what is such a vine good for? Nothing.
Saith another prophet, ' A man cannot make so much as a pin of it,
to hang a vessel on.' A barren tree is good for nothing, but to be
cut down for the fire. Notwithstanding the seeming usefulness of
men who serve the providence of God in their generations, I could
easily manifest that the world and the church might want them, and
that, indeed, in themselves they are good for nothing. Only the holy
man is commune bonum.
" (3dly.) The end of it in respect of others in the world is mani
fold:— " [1 st] It serves to the conviction and stopping the mouths of some
of the enemies of God, both here and hereafter :— 1. Here. 1 Pet. iu.
16, 'Having a good conscience; that, wherein they speak evU of you,
as of evU-doers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good
conversation in Christ.' By our keeping of a good conscience men
will be made ashamed of their false accusations; that whereas thefr
malice and hatred of the ways of God hath provoked them to speak
all manner of evil of the profession of them, by the holiness and right
eousness of the saints, they are convinced and made ashamed, as a
thief is when he is taken, and be driven to acknowledge that God is

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE 319
amongst them, and that they are wicked themselves, John xvii. 23
2. Hereafter. It is said that the saints shaU judge the world. It
is on this', as well as upon other considerations: — their good works,
thefr righteousness, their holiness, shall be brought forth, and mani
fested to aU the world ; and the righteousness of God's judgments
against wicked men be thence evinced. ' See,' says Christ, ' these
are they that I own, whom you so despised and abhorred ; and see
their works following them : this and that they have done, when you
wallowed in your abominations,' Matt. xxv. 42, 43.
" [2„y.] The conversion of others. 1 Pet. ii. 12, ' Having your con
versation honest among the GentUes; that, wherein they speak against
you as evU-doers, they may, by your good works, which they shall
behold, glorify God in the day of visitation,' Matt v. 16. Even
revUers, persecutors, evU-speakers, have been overcome by the con
stant holy walking of professors; and when their day of visitation
hath come, have glorified God on that account, 1 Pet. iii. 1, 2.
" [3~y.] The benefit of all; partly in keeping off judgments from
the residue of men, as ten good men would have preserved Sodom : 1
partly by thefr real communication of good to them with whom they
have to do in their generation. Holiness makes a man a good man,
useful to all; and others eat of the fruits of the Spirit that he brings
forth continually.
" [4>thly.] It is necessary in respect of the state and condition of
justified persons; and that whether you consider their relative state
of acceptation, or their state of sanctification : —
" First. They are accepted and received into friendship with a holy
God, — a God of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, — who hates every
unclean thing. And is it not necessary that they should be holy who
are admitted into his presence, walk in his sight, — yea, lie in his
bosom? Should they not with all diUgence cleanse themselves from aU
poUution of aflesh and spirit, and perfect hoUness in the fear oftheLord?
" Secondly. In respect of sanctification. We have in us a new crea
ture, 2 Cor. v. 1 7. This new creature is fed, cherished, nourished, kept
alive, by the fruits of hoUness. To what end hath God given us new
hearts, and new natures ? Is it that we should lull them ? stifle the
creature that is found in us in the womb ? that we should give him
to the old man to be devoured ?
" [5thly.] It is necessary in respect of the proper place of holiness
in the new covenant; and that is twofold: —
" First. Of the means unto the end. God hath appointed that holi
ness shaU be the means, sthe way to that eternal life, which, as in it-
1 Gen. xviii. 32. ' 2 Cor. vii. t.
3 Rom. vi. 23; Heb. xi. fr; Gen. xvii. 1 ; Ps; xix. 11, lviii. 1 1 ; Matt. v. I2,x. 41}
Bom. iv. 4; Col. ii. 18, iii. 24; Heb. x. 35, xi. 26; 2 Pet. ii. 13.

320 A VINDICATION OF
self and originally [it] is his gift by Jesus Christ, so, with regard to
his constitution of our obedience, as the means of attaining it, [it]
is a reward, and God in bestowing of it a rewarder. Though it be
neither the cause, matter, nor condition of our justification, yet it is
the way appointed of God for us to walk in for the obtaining of sal
vation. And therefore, he that hath hope of eternal Ufe purifies him
self, as he is pure : and none shall ever come to that end who walketh
not in that way; for without hoUness it is impossible to see God.'
" Secondly. It is a testimony and pledge of adoption, — a sign and
evidence of grace; that is, of acceptation with God. And, —
" Thirdly. The whole expression of our thankfulness.
" Now, there is not one of aU these causes and reasons of the ne
cessity, the indispensable necessity of our obedience, good works, and
personal righteousness, but would require a more large discourse to
unfoki and explain than I have aUotted to the proposal of them all;
and innumerable others there are of the same import, that I cannot
name. He that upon these accounts doth not think universal hoU
ness and obedience to be of indispensable necessity, unless also it be
exalted into the room of the obedience and righteousness of Christ,
let him be filthy still."
I confess this whole discourse proceedeth on the supposition of the
imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto us for our justifica
tion And herein I have as good company as the prelacy and whole
church of England can afford; sundry from among them having written
large discourses in its confirmation, and the rest having, tiU of late,
approved of it in others. I wish this man, or any of his companions
in design, would undertake the answering of Bishop Downham on
this subject. No man ever carried this matter higher than Luther;
nor did he, in aU his writings, more positively and plainly contend
for it than hi his comment on the Epistle to the Galatians; — yet was
that book translated into English by the approbation of the then
bishop of London, who also prefixed himself a commendatory epistle
unto it. The judgment of Hooker we have heard before. But what
need I mention in particular any of the rest of those great and learned
names who have made famous the profession of the church of Eng
land by their writings throughout the world? Had this man, in their
days, treated this doctrine with his present scoffing petulancy, he had
scarce been rector of St George, Botolph Lane, much less filled with
such hopes and expectations of future advancements, as it is not
impossible that he is now possessed with, upon his memorable achieve
ments. But, on this supposition, I do, first, appeal to the judgment
of the church of England itself as to the truth of the doctrine deU
vered in my discourse, and the principles which this man proceedeth
on in his exceptions against it. 2. Though it be but a part of a

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 321
popular discourse, and never intended for scholastic accuracy, yet, as
to the assertions contained in it, I challenge this author to take and
allow the ordinary, usual sense of the words, with the open design of
them, and to answer them when he can. And, 3. In the meantime
I appeal unto every indifferent reader whether the mere perusal of
this whole passage do not cast this man's futUous cavUs out of all
consideration? So that I shall only content myself with very few
remarks upon them : —
1. Upon my asserting the necessity of good works, he adds, " A
very suspicious word ; which, methinks, these men should be afraid to
name." And why so? We do acknowledge that we do not seek for
righteousness by the works of the law ; we design not our personal
justification by them, nor to merit life or salvation; but betake our
selves unto what even Bellarmine himself came to at last as the safest
retreat, — namely, the merits and righteousness of Christ: but for
attendance unto them, performance of them, and fruitfulness in them,
we are not afraid nor ashamed at any time to enter into judgment
with them by whom we are traduced And as I have nothing to
say unto this author, who is known unto me only by that portraiture
and character which he hath given of himself in this book ; which I
could have wished, for his own sake, had been drawn with a mixture
of more lines of truth and modesty: so I know there are not a few
who, in the course of a vain, worldly conversation, whilst there is scarce
a back or beUy of a disciple of Christ that blesseth God upon the
account of their, bounty or charity (the footsteps of levity, vanity,
scurrility, and profaneness, being, moreover, left upon all the paths of
their haunt), are wont to declaim about holiness, good works, and
justification by them ; which is a ready way to instruct men to atheism,
or the scorn of every thing that is professed in rehgion. But yet,
2. He shows how impotent and impertinent our arguments are for
the proof of the necessity of holiness. And as to the first of them,
from the commands of God, he saith, " That if, after all these com
mands, God hath left it indifferent whether we obey him or no, I
hope such commands cannot make obedience necessary." Wonderful
divinity! A man must needs be weU acquainted with God and
himself who can suppose that any of his commands shaU leave it in
different, whether we wiU obey them or no. Yea, " But wUl he damn
men if they do not obey his commands for holiness?" Yes, yes; no
doubt he wUl do so. Yea, " But we may be, notwithstanding this
command, justified and saved without this hoUness." False and im
pertinent: we are neither justified nor saved without them, though
we are not justified by them, nor saved for them.
Unto my enforcement of the necessity of holiness from the ends
of God in election and redemption, he raphes, p. 127, "The Father
VOL. II. 21

322 A VINDICATION OF
*
hath elected us to be holy, and the Son redeemed us to be holy; but
vrill the Father elect and the Son redeem none but those who are
holy, and reject and reprobate all others? Doth this election and
redemption suppose holiness in us, or is it without any regard to it?
For if we be elected and redeemed without any regard unto our own
being holy, our election and redemption is secure, whether we be holy
or not." Wonderful divinity again ! Election and redemption sup
pose holiness in us ! We are elected and redeemed with regard unto
our own holiness ! that is, antecedently unto our election and redemp
tion; for holiness being the effect and fruit of them, is that which he
opposeth. Not many pages after this, he falls into a great admiration
of the catechism of the church of England, which none blamed that
I know of, as to what is contained in it. But it were to be wished
that he had been well instructed in some others, that he might not
have divulged and obtruded on the world such crude and palpable
mistakes. For this respect of redemption, at least, unto an antece
dent holiness in us (that is, antecedent unto it), is such a piece of
foppery in religion, as a man would wonder how any one could be
guilty of, who hath almost " pored out his eyes" in reading the Scrip
ture. All the remaining cavils of this chapter are but the effects of
the like fulsome ignorance; for out of some passages, scraped together
from several parts of my discourse (and those not only cut off from
thefr proper scope and end, which is not mentioned by him at all,
but also mangled in their representation), he would frame the ap
pearance of a contradiction between what I say on the one hand,
that there is no peace with God to be obtained by and for sinners
but by the atonement that is made for them in the blood of Jesus
Christ, with the remission of sin and justification by faith which
ensue thereon (which I hope I shall not live to hear denied by the
church of England), and the necessity of hoUness and fruitfulness in
obedience, to maintain in our own souls a sense of that peace with
God which we have, being justified by faith. And he who under
stands not the consistency of those things, hath little reason to de
spise good catechisms, whatever thoughts he hath had of his own
sufficiency. The whole design of what remains of this section, is to insinuate
that there can be no necessity of hoUness or obedience unto God,
unless we are justified and saved thereby; which I knew not before
to have been, nor indeed do yet know it to be, the doctrine of the
church of England. But be it whose it wUl, I am sure it is not that
of the Scripture, and I have so disproved it in other discourses, which
this man may now see if he please, as that I shall not here again reas-
sume the same argument; and although I am weary of consulting this
woful mixture of disingenuity and ignorance, yet I shall remark some-

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 323
what on one or two passages more, and leave him, if he please, unto
a due apprehension, that what remains is unanswerable scoffing.
The first is that of p. 131. " But, however, holiness is necessary
with respect to sanctification : ' We have in us a new creature, 2 Cor.
v. 1 7. This new creature is fed, cherished, nourished, and kept alive,
by the fruits of holmess. To what end hath God given us new hearts,
and new natures ? Is it that we should kill them, stifle the creature
that is found in us in the womb? that we should, give him to the
old man to be devoured ?' The phrase of this is admirable, and the
reasoning unanswerable; for if men be new creatures, they will cer
tainly live new lives, and this makes holiness absolutely necessary, by
the same reason that every thing necessarily is what it is : but stUl
we inquire after a necessary obligation to the practice of holiness, and
that we cannot yet discover."
The reader wUl see easily how this is picked out of the whole dis
course, as that which he imagined would yield some advantage to
reflect upon; for, let him pretend what he please to the contrary, he
hath laid this end too open to be denied ; and I am no way solicitous
what will be his success therein. Had he aimed at the discovery of
truth, he ought to have examined the whole of the discourse, and not
thus have rent one piece of it from the other. As to the phrase of
speech which I use, it is, I acknowledge, metaphorical ; but yet, being
used only in a popular way of instruction, is sufficiently warranted
from the Scripture, which administers occasion and gives countenance
unto every expression in it, the whole being full well understood by
those who are exercised in the life of God And for the reasoning of
it, it is such as I know this man cannot answer: for the new creature,
however he may fancy, is not a new conversation, nor a living hohly ;
but it is the principle, and spiritual' ability, produced in believers by
the power and grace of the Holy Ghost, enabling them, to walk in
newness of life and hoUness of conversation. And this principle
being bestowed on us, wrought in us, for that very end, it is necessary
for us, unless we will neglect and despise the grace which we have
received, that we walk in holiness, and abound in the fruits of right
eousness, whereunto it leads and tends. Let him answer this if he
can, and when he hath done so, answer the apostle in like manner;
or scoff not only at me, but at him also.
The last passage I shaU remark upon in this section is what he
gives us as the sum of the whole. P. 135, " The sum of all is, that
to know Christ is not to be thus acquainted with his person, but to
understand his gospel in its fuU latitude and extent ; it is not the
person, but the gospel of Christ which is the way, the truth, and the
life, which directs us in the way to life and happiness. And again,
this acquaintance with Christ's person, which these men pretend to,

324 A VINDICATION OF
is only a work of fancy, and teaches men the arts of hypocrisy,"
etc. I do not know that ever I met with any thing thus crudely asserted
among the Quakers, in contempt of the person of Christ; for whereas
he says of himself expressly, " I am the way, the truth, and the Ufe,"
to say he is not so (for Jesus Christ is his person, and nothing else),
carries in it a bold contradiction, both parts of which cannot be true.
When the subject of a proposition is owned, there may be great con
troversy about the sense of the predicate; as when Christ says he is
the vine : there may be so also about the subject of a proposition,
when the expression is of a third thing, and dubious; as where Christ
says, "This is my body:" but when the person speaking is the sub
ject, and speaks of himself, to deny what he says, is to give him the
lie. " I am the way, the truth, and the Ufe," saith Christ ; — " He is
not," saith our author, " but the gospel is so." If he had aUowed our
Lord Jesus- Christ to have spoken the truth, but only to have added,
" Though he was so, yet he was so no otherwise but by the gospel,"
there had been somewhat of modesty in the expression; but this
saying, that the " person of Christ is not, — the gospel is so," is intoler
able. It is so, however, that this young man, without consulting or
despising the exposition of aU divines, ancient or modern, and the
common sense of aU Christians, should dare to obtrude his crude
and undigested conceptions upon so great a word of Christ himself,
countenanced only by the corrupt and false glosses of some obscure
Socinians: which some or other may possibly in due time mind bim
of; I have other work to do.
But according to his exposition of this heavenly oracle, what shaU
any one imagine to be the sense of the context, where " I," and " me,"
spoken of Christ, do so often occur? Suppose that the words of that
whole verse, " I am the way, the truth, and the Ufe, no man cometh
to the Father but by me," have this sense, — not Christ himself is the
way, the truth, and the life, but the gospel : " No man cometh to the
Father but by me;" that is, not by me, but by " the gospel," — must not
all the expressions of the same nature in the context have the same
exposition? as namely, verse 1, "Ye beUeve in God, beUeve also in me ;"
that is, not in me, but in " the gospel ;" — "I go to prepare a place for
you ;" that is, not I do so, but "the gospel;" verse 3, "I wUl come again
and receive you to myself;" that is, not I, but "the gospel" wUl do so;
and so of all other things which Christ in that place seems to speak
of himself. If this be bis way of interpreting Scripture, I wonder not
that he blames others for thefr defect and miscarriages therein.
When I first considered these two last sections," I did not suspect
but that he had at least truly represented my words, which he
thought meet to reflect upon and scoff at ; as knowing how easy it

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 325
was for any one whose conscience would give him a dispensation for
such an undertaking, to pick out sayings and expressions from the
most innocent discourse, and odiously to propose them, as cut off from
thefr proper coherence, and under a concealment of the end and the
principal sense designed in them. Wherefore I did not so much as
read over the discourse excepted against; only, once or twice observing
my words, as quoted by him, not directly to comply with what I knew
to be my sense and intention, I turned unto the particular places to
discover his prevarication. But having gone through this ungrateful
task, I took the pains to read over the whole digression in my book,
which his exceptions are leveUed against ; and, upon my review of it,
my admiration of his dealing was not a little increased. I cannot,
therefore, but desfre of the most partial adherers unto this censurer
of other men's labours, judgments, and expressions, but once to read
over that discourse, and if they own themselves to be Christians, I
shall submit the whole of it, with the consideration of his reflections
upon it, unto their judgments. If they refuse so to do, I let them
know I despise their censures, and do look on the satisfaction they
fake in this man's scoffing reflections as the laughter of fools, or the
crackling of thorns under a pot. For those who wiU be at so much
pains to undeceive themselves, they vrill find that that expression of
the "person of Christ" is but once or twice used in all that long dis
course, and that occasionaUy ; which, by the outcries here made against
it, any one would suppose to have fiUed up almost aU the pages of it
He vrill find, also, that I have owned and declared the revelation that
God hath made of himself, the properties of his nature, and his wiU,
in his works of creation and providence, in its full extent and efficacy;
and that by the knowledge of God in Christ, which I so much insist
upon, I openly, plainly, and declaredly, intend nothing but the decla
ration that God hath made of himself in Jesus Christ by the gospel :
whereof the knowledge of his person, the great mystery of godliness,
God manifested in the flesh, with what he did and suffered as the
mediator between God and man, is the chiefest instance; in which
knowledge consisteth all our wisdom of Uving unto God. Hereon I
have no more to add, but that he by whom these things are denied
or derided, doth openly renounce his Christianity. And that I do
not lay this unto the charge of this doughty writer, is because I am
satisfied that he hath not done it out of any such design, but partly
out of ignorance of the things which he undertakes to write about,
and partly to satisfy the malevolence of himself and some others
against my person : which sort of depraved affections, where men give
up themselves unto their prevalency, will blind the eyes and pervert
the judgments of persons as wise as he.
In the first section of his fourth chapter I am not particularly con-

326 A VINDICATION OF
.cerned; and whUst he only vents his own conceits, be they never so
idle or atheological, I shaU never trouble myself, either with their
examination or confutation. So many as he can persuade to be of
his mind, — that we have no union with Christ but by virtue of union
with the church (the contrary whereof is absolutely true) ; that Christ
is so a head of rule and government unto the church, as that he is
not a head 6f influence and supplies of spiritual life (contrary to the
faith of the catholic church in all ages) ; that these assertions of his
have any countenance from antiquity, or the least from the passages
quoted out of Chrysostom by himself; that his glosses upon many
texts of Scripture (which have an admirable coincidence vrith those
of two other persons whom I shall name when occasion requires it)
are sufficient to affix upon them the sense which he pleads for, with
many other things of an equal falsehood and impertinency wherewith
this section is stuffed, — shall, without any farther trouble from me,
be left to follow thefr own inclinations. But yet, notwithstanding
all the great pains he hath taken to instruct us in the nature of the
union between Christ and beUevers, I shall take leave to prefer that
given by Mr Hooker before it, not only as more true and agreeable
unto the Scripture, but also as better expressing the doctrine of the
church of England in this matter. And if these things please the pre
sent rulers of the church, — wherein upon the matter Christ is shuffled
off, and the whole of our spiritual union is resolved into the doctrine
of the gospel, and the rule of the church by bishops and pastors, let
it imply what contradiction it wdll, as it doth the highest, seeing it
is by the doctrine of the gospel that we are taught our union with
Christ, and his rule of the church by his laws and Spfrit, — I have only
the advantage to know somewhat more than I did formerly, though
not much to my satisfaction.
But he that shaU consider what reflections are cast in this discourse
on the necessity of satisfaction to be made unto divine justice, and
from whom they are borrowed; the miserable, weak attempt that is
made therein to reduce all Christ's mediatory actings unto his kingly
office, and, in particular, his intercession ; the faint mention that is
made of the satisfaction of Christ, clogged with the addition of igno
rance of the philosophy of it, as it is called, well enough complying
with them who grant that the Lord Christ did what God was satis
fied withal, with sundry other things of the like nature ; will not be
to seek whence these things come, nor whither they are going, nor
to whom our author is beholden for most of his rare notions; which
it is an easy thing at any time to acquaint him withal.
The second section of this chapter is filled principally with excep
tions agamst my discourse about the personal excellencies of Christ
as mediator; if I may not rather say, with the reflections on the glory

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE 327
of Christ himself. [As] for my own discourse upon it, I acknowledge it
to be weak, and not only inconceivably beneath the dignity and merit
of the subject, but also far short of what is taught and delivered by
many ancient writers of the church unto that purpose ; and [as] for his
exceptions, they are such a composition of ignorance and spite as is
hardly to be paralleled. His entrance upon his. work is (p. 200) as
followeth: — " Secondly, Let us inquire what they mean by the per
son of Christ, to which believers must be united. And here they
have outdone all the metaphysical subtilties of Suarez, and have
found out a person for Christ distinct from his Godhead and man
hood; for there can be no other sense made of what Dr Owen tells
us, — that by the ' graces of his person he doth not mean the ' glorious
exceUencies of his Deity considered in itself, abstracting from the
office which for us, as God and man, he undertook; nor the outward
appearance of his human nature, when he conversed here on earth,
nor yet as now exalted in glory; but the graces of the person of Christ,
as he is vested with the office of mediation, — his spiritual eminency,
comeliness, beauty, as appointed and anointed by the Father unto
that great work of bringing home all his elect into his bosom.' Now,
unless the person of Christ as mediator be distinct from his person
as God-man, all this is idle talk ; for what personal graces are there
in Christ as mediator which do not belong to him either as God or
man? There are some things, indeed, which our Saviour did and
suffered, which he was not obliged to, either as God or man, but as
mediator; but surely he will not caU the pecuUar duties and actions
of an office personal graces."
I have now learned not to trust unto the honesty and ingenuity of
our author,' as to his quotations out of my book; which I find that he
hath here mangled and altered, as in other places, and shaU therefore
transcribe the whole passage in my own words, p. 51 :1 " It is Christ
as mediator of whom we speak; and therefore, by the ' grace of his
person,' I understand not, first, The glorious excellencies of his Deity
considered in itself, abstracting from the office which for us, as God ,
and man, he undertook; nor, secondly, The outward appearance of
his human nature, neither when he conversed here on earth, bearing
our infirmities (whereof, by reason of the charge that was laid upon
him, the prophet gives quite another character, Isa. In 1 4), concern
ing which some of the ancients are very poetical in their expressions;
nor yet as now exalted in glory; — a vain imagination whereof makes
many bear a false, a corrupted respect unto Christ, even upon carnal
apprehensions of the mighty exaltation of the human nature; which
is but to ' know Christ after the flesh,' — a mischief much improved by
the abomination of fooUsh imagery. But this is that which I in-
1 Page 48 of this volume.

328 A VINDICATION OF
tend, — the graces of the person of Christ as he is vested with the
office of mediation, his spiritual eminency, comeliness, and beauty, etc.
Now, in this respect the Scripture describes him as exceeding excel
lent, comely, and desirable, — far above comparison with the chiefest,
choicest created good, or any endearment imaginable;" which I prove
at large from Pa xiv. 2; Isa. iv. 2; Cant. v. 9, adding an explanation
of the whola
In the digression, some passages whereof he carps at in this section,
my design was to declare, as was said, somewhat of the glory of the
person of Christ. To this end I considered both the glory of his divine
and the many exceUencies of his human nature; but that which I
principally insisted on was the excellency of his person as God and
man in one, whereby he was meet and able to be the mediator be
tween God and man, and to effect all the great and blessed ends of
his mediation. That our Lord Jesus Christ was God, and that there
were, on that account, in his person the essential excellencies and
properties of the divine nature, I suppose he will not deny; nor wUl
he do so that he was truly man, and that his human nature was
endowed with many glorious graces and excellencies which are pecu
Uar thereunto. That there is a distinct consideration of his person
as both these natures are united therein, is that which he seems to
have a mind to except against. And is it meet that any one who
hath aught else to do should spend any moments of that time which
he knows how better to improve, in the pursuit of a man's imperti-
nencies, who is so bewUdered in his own ignorance and confidence,
that he knows neither where he is nor what he says? Did not the
Son of God, by assuming our human nature, continuing what he was,
become what he was not? Was not the person of Christ, by the
communication of the properties of each nature in it and to it, a
principle of such operations as he could not have wrought either as
God or man, separately considered? How else did God " redeem
his church with his own blood?" or how is that true which he says,
John iii. 13, " And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that
came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaveri?"
Was not the union of the two natures in the same person (which
was a property neither of the divine nor human nature, but a distinct
ineffable effect of divine condescension, wisdom, and grace, which the
ancients unanimously caU the " grace of union," whose subject is the
person of Christ) that whereby he was fit, meet, and able, for all the
works of his mediation? Doth not the Scripture, moreover, propose
unto our faith and consolation the glory, power, and grace of the per
son of Christ as he is " God over all, blessed for ever;" and his love,
sympathy, care, and compassion as man; yet all acting themselves in
the one and selfsame person of the Son of God? Let him read the

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 329
first chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and see what account he
can give thereof. And are not these such principles of Christian
religion as no man ought to be ignorant of, or can deny, without the
guilt of the heresies condemned in the first general councUs? And
they are no other principles which my whole discourse excepted
agamst doth proceed upon. But saith our author, " Unless the per
son of Christ as mediator be distinct from his person as God-man, aU
this is idle talk." Very good ! and why so? Why, " What personal
graces are there in Christ as mediator, which do not belong unto him
either as God or man?" But is he not ashamed of this ignorance?
Is it not a personal grace and excellency that he is God and man in
one person? which belongs not to him either as God or man. And
are there not personal operations innumerable depending hereon,
which could not have been wrought by him either as God or man ;
as raising himself from the dead by his own power, and redeeming
the church with his blood? Are not most of the descriptions that
are given us of Christ in the Scripture, most of the operations which
are assigned unto him, such as neither belong unto nor proceed from
the divine or human nature, separately considered, but from the per
son of Christ, as both these natures are united in it? That which
seems to have led him into the maze wherein he is bewildered in his
ensuing discourse, is, that considering there are but two natures in
Christ, the divine and the human, — and nature is the principle of
all operations, — he supposed that nothing could be said of Christ,
nothing ascribed to his person, but what was directly, formaUy predi
cated of one of his natures, distinctly considered. But he might have
easily inquired of himself, — that seeing all the properties and acts of
the divine nature are absolutely divine, and all those of the human
nature absolutely human, whence it came to pass that all the opera
tions and works of Christ, as mediator, are theandrical?1 Although
there be nothing in the person of Christ but his divine and human
-nature, yet the person of Christ is neither his divine nature nor his
human; for the human nature is, and ever was, of itself, avuiroaTarog •
and the divine, to the complete constitution of the person of the Me
diator, in and unto its own hypostasis assumed the human: so that,
although every energy or operation be dpagrixrt rijj (pbeiaig xivyeig, and
so the distinct natures are distinct principles of Christ's operations,
yet his person is the principal or only agent; which being God-man,
all the actions thereof, by virtue of the communication of the pro
perties of both natures therein, are theandrical. And the excellency
of this person of Christ, wherein he was every way fitted for the
work of mediation, I caU sometimes his personal-grace, and wUl not
go to him to learn to speak and express myself in these things. And
1 Proceeding from the divine and human natures in personal union.— Ed.

330 A VINDICATION OF
it is most false which he affirms, p. 203, " That I distinguish the
graces of Christ's person as mediator from the graces of his person
as God and man." Neither could any man have run into such an
imagination who had competently understood the things which he
speaks about; and the bare proposal of these things is enough to
defeat the design of all his ensuing carils and exceptions.
And as to what he closeth withal, that " Surely I will not call the
peculiar duties and actions of an office personal graces;" I suppose
'that he knoweth not well what he intends thereby. Whatever he
hath fancied about Christ being the name of an office, Jesus Christ,
of whom we speak, is a person, and not an office; and there are no
such things in rerum natura as the actions of an office. And if by
them he intends the actions of a person in the discharge of an office,
whatever he calls them, I will call the habits in Christ, from whence
aU his actions in the performance of his office do proceed, " personal
graces," and that whether he wUl or no. So he is a " merciful, faith
ful, and compassionate high priest," Heb. h. 17, iv. 15, v. 2. And all
his actions, in the discharge of his office of priesthood, being prin
cipled and regulated by those qualifications, I do call them his per
sonal graces, and do hope that, for the future, I may obtain his leave
so to do. The like may be said of his other offices.
The discourse which he thus raves against is didactical, and accom
modated unto a popular way of instruction ; and it hath been hitherto
the common ingenuity of aU learned men to give an aUowance unto
such discourses, so as not to exact from them an accuracy and pro
priety in expressions, such as is required in those that are scholas
tical or polemical. It is that which, by common consent, is allowed
to the tractates of the ancients of that nature, — especiaUy where no
thing is taught but what, for the substance of it, is consonant unto
the truth. But this man attempts not only a severity in nibbUng at
all expressions which he fancieth liable unto his censures, but, with
a disingenuous artifice, waiving the tenor and process of the discourse,
which I presume he found not himself able to oppose, he takes out,
sometimes here, sometimes there, up and down, backward and for
ward, at his pleasure, what he will, to put, if it be possible, an UI
sense upon the whole. And, if he have not hereby given a sufficient
discovery of his good-will towards the doing of somewhat to my dis
advantage, he- hath failed in his whole endeavour; for there is no
expression which he hath fixed on as the subject of his reflections,
which is truly mine, but that as it is used by me, and with respect
unto its end, I wUl defend it against him and all his co-partners,
whilst the Scripture may be aUowed to be the rule and measure of
our conceptions and expressions about sacred things. And although
at present I am utterly wearied with the consideration of such sad

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 331
triflings, I shaU accept from him the kindness of an obligation to so
much patience as is necessary unto the perusal of the ensuing leaves,
wherein I am concerned.
First, p. 202, he would pick something, if he knew what, out of
my quotations of Cant. v. 9, to express or Ulustrate the excellency of
Christ ; which first he calls an " excellent proof," by way of scorn. But
as it is far from being the only proof produced in the confirmation of
the same truth, and is applied rather to illustrate what was spoken,
than to prove it, yet, by his favour, I shall make bold to continue
my apprehensions of the occasional exposition of the words which I
have given in that place, untU he is pleased to acquaint me with a
better; which, I suppose, wUl be long enough. For what he adds, —
" But, however, white and ruddy belong to his divine and human
nature, and that without regard to his mediatory office ; for he had
been white in the glory of his Deity, and ruddy with the red earth
of his humanity, whether he had been considered as mediator or not,"
— it comes from the same spring of skill and benevolence with those
afore. For what wise talk is it, of Christ's being God and man,
without the consideration of his being mediator! as though he were
ever, or ever should have been, God and man, but with respect unto
his mediation? His scoff at the red earth of Christ's humanity,
represented as my words, is grounded upon a palpable falsification;
for my words are; " He was also ruddy in the beauty of his humanity.
Man was called Adam, from the red earth whereof he was made-
The word here used points hun out as the second Adam, partaker of
flesh and blood, because the chUdren also partook of the same." And
if he be displeased with these expressions, let him take his own time
to be pleased again ; it is that wherein I am not concerned. But my
fault, which so highly deserved his correction, is, that I apply that
to the person of Christ which belongs unto his natures. But what
if I say no such thing, or had no such design in that place ? For
although I do maintain a distinct consideration of the excellency of
Christ's person, as comprising both his natures united, — though every
real thing in his person belongs formally and radically unto one [or
other] of the natures (those other excellencies being the exurgency of
thefr union), whereby his person was fitted and suited unto his medi
atory operations, which in neither nature, singly considered, he could
have performed, — and shall continue to maintain it against whosoever
dares directly to oppose it ; yet in this place I intended it not, which
this man knew well enough, — the very next words unto what he pre
tends to prove it [by], being, " The beauty and comeliness of the
Lord Jesus Christ, in the union of both these in one person, shall
afterward be declared." And so we have an equaUty in judgment
and ingenuity throughout this censure.

332 A VINDICATION OF
Hence he leaps to p. 64 of my book, thence backwards to p. 53,
and then up and down, I know not how nor whither. He begins
with p. 64 :J — " And in his first digression concerning the excellency
of Christ Jesus, to invite us to communion with him in a conjugal
relation, he tells us that Christ is exceeding excellent and desirable
in his Deity, and the glory thereof; he is desfrable and worthy our
acceptation as considered in his humanity, in his freedom from sin,
fulness of grace, etc. Now, though this looks very like a contradic
tion, that by the graces of his person, he meant neither the excel
lencies of his divine nor human nature ; yet he hath a salvo which
wiU deliver him both from contradiction and from nonsense,— that
he doth not consider these excellencies of his Deity or humanity as
abstracted from his office of mediator, though he might if he pleased :
for he considers those excellencies which are not peculiar to the
office of mediation, but which would have belonged unto him as
God and man, whether he had been mediator or not. But what
becomes of his distinction of the graces of Christ's person as media
tor from the graces of his person as God and man, when there are
no personal graces in Christ but what belong to his Deity or his
humanity?" I am sufficiently satisfied that he neither knows where he is nor
what he doth, or hath no due comprehension of the things he treats
about. That which he opposeth, if he intend to oppose any thing
by me asserted, is, that whereas Christ is God, the essential proper
ties of his divine nature are to be considered as the formal motive
unto, and object of, faith, love, and obedience; and whereas he is
man also, his excellencies, in the glorious endowment of his human
nature, with his alliance unto us therein, and his furniture of grace
for, the discharge pf his office, are proposed unto our faith and love
in the Scripture. And of these things we ought to take a distinct
consideration; our faith concerning them being not only taught in
the Scripture, but fully confirmed in the confessions and determina
tions of the primitive church. But the person of Christ, wherein
these two natures are united, is of another distinct consideration; and
such things are spoken thereof as cannot, under any single enuncia
tion, be ascribed unto either nature, though nothing be so but what
formally belongs unto one of them, or is the necessary consequent
.and exurgency of their union. See Isa ix. 6; 1 Tim. iii. 16; John
L 14. It is of the "glory of the Word of God made flesh" that I
discourse. But this man talks of what would have belonged to
Christ as God-man, whether he had been mediator or not ; as though
the Son of God either was, or was ever designed to be, or can be,
considered as God-man, and not as mediator. And thence he would
1 Page 59 of present volume.

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 333
reUeve himself by the calumny of assigning a distinction unto me
between the graces of Christ's person as mediator, and the graces of
his person as God and man (that is, one person) ; which is a mere
figment of his own misunderstanding. Upon the whole, he comes to
that accurate thesis of his own, — that there are no personal graces in
Christ but what belong to his Deity or humanity. Personal graces
belonging unto the humanity, or human nature of Christ, — that na
ture being atwrosrarog, or such as hath no personal subsistence of its
own, — is a notion that those may thank him for who have a mind
to do it. And he may do well to consider what his thoughts are of
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, mentioned Phil. U. 6-11.
But he wUl now discover the design of all these things, and after
ward make it good by quotations out of my book. The first he
doth, p. 203, and onwards: " But whatever becomes of the sense of
the distinction, there is a very deep fetch in it, the observing of
which wUl discover the whole mystery of the person of Christ and
our union to him. For these men consider that Christ saves us as
he is our mediator, and not merely considered as God or man ; and
they imagine that we receive grace and salvation from Christ's per
son just as we do water out of a conduit, or a gift and largess from
a prince, — that it flows to us from our union to his person; and there
fore they dress up the person of the Mediator with all those personal
excellencies and graces which may make him a fit Saviour, that
those who are thus united to his person (of which more in the next
section) need not fear missing of salvation. Hence they ransack aU
the boundless perfections of the Deity, and whatever they can find
or faney speaks any comfort to sinners, this is presently a personal
grace of the Mediator; — they consider all the glorious effects of his
mediation; and whatever great things are spoken of his gospel, or
reUgion, or intercession for us, these serve as personal graces: so
that all our hopes may be buUt, not on the gospel covenant, but on
the person of Christ. So that the dispute now lies between the per
son of Christ and his gospel, — which must be the foundation of our
hope, — which is the way to life and happiness."
First, We do consider and beUeve that Christ saves as a mediator;
that is, as God and man in one person, exercising the office of a
mediator, and not merely as God or man. This we beUeve with aU
the catholic church of Christ, and can with boldness say, He that
doth not so, let him be anathema maran-atha. Secondly, We do not
imagine, but beUeve from the Scripture, and with the whole church
of God, that we receive grace and salvation from the person of Christ
in those distinct ways wherein they are capable of being received ;
and let him be anathema who beUeves otherwise. Only, whether
bis putting of grace and salvation into the same way of reception

334 A VINDICATION OF
belong unto his accuracy in expressing his own sentiments, or his
ingenuity in the representation of other men's words, I leave unde
termined. The simUitudes he useth to express our faith in these
things, show his good-wUl towards scoffing and profaneness. We
say, there is real communication of grace from the person of Christ,
as the head of the church, unto all the members of his mystical body
by his Spirit, whereby they are quickened, sanctified, and enabled
unto all holy obedience; and; if it be denied by him, he stands ana
thematized by sundry councils of the ancient church. We say not,
that we receive it as " water out of a conduit," which is of a Umited,
determined capacity; whereas we say, the person of Christ, by reason
of his Deity, is an immense, eternal, living spring or fountain of aU
grace. And when God calls himself a " fountain of Uving water;"
and the Lord Christ calls his Spirit communicated to beUevers " Uving
water" (under which appeUations he was frequently promised in the
Old Testament); as also the grace and mercy of the gospel, the
"water of life,-" — inviting us to receive them, and to drink of them,
— this author maybe advised to take heed of profane scoffing at these
things. Whether any have said, that we receive grace and salvation
from Christ, as " a gift or largess from a prince," I know not; if they
have, the sole defect therein is, that the aUusion doth no way suffi
ciently set forth the freedom and bounty of Christ in the communi
cation of them unto sinners ; and wherein else it offends, let bim
soberly declare, if he can. This is the charge upon us in point of
faith and judgment; which, in one word, amounts to no more but
this, — that we are Christians : and so, by the grace of God, we intend
to continue, let this man deride us whUst he pleaseth. Thirdly, His
next charge concerns our practice in the pursuit of these dreadful
principles, which, by thefr repetition, he hath exposed to scorn:
" And therefore they dress up," etc. What doth this poor man in
tend? what is the design of aU this profaneness? The declaration
of the natures and person of Christ, — of his grace and work, — the
ascribing unto him what is directly and expressly in terms ascribed
unto him in the Scripture, or relating, as we are able, the descrip
tion it gives of him, — is here called, " Dressing up the person of the
Mediator with aU those personal graces that may make him a fit
Saviour." The preparation" of the person of Christ to be a fit and
meet.Saviour for sinners, which he profanely compares to the dressing
up of  , is the greatest, most glorious, and admirable effect that
ever infinite wisdom, goodness, power, and love wrought and produced,
or wUl do so unto eternity. And those on whom he reflects design
nothing, do nothing in this matter, but only endeavour, according to
the measure of the gift of Christ which they have received, to de
clare and explain what is revealed and taught in the Scripture

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 335
thereof; and those who exceed the bounds of Scripture revelation
herein (if any do so) we do abhor. And as for those who are united
unto Christ, although we say not that they need not fear missing of
salvation, seeing they are to be brought unto it, not only through
the exercise of all graces, whereof fear is one, but also through such
trials and temptations as will always give them a fear of heed and
diligence, and sometimes such a fear of the event of things as shall
combat their faith, and shake its firmest resolves; yet we fear not to
say, that those who are really united unto Jesus Christ shall be
assuredly saved; which I have proved elsewhere beyond the fear of
any opposition from this author, or others Uke minded. Fourthly,
He adds " Hence they ransack," etc. But what is the meaning of
these expressions? Doth not the Scripture declare that Christ is
God as well as man? Doth it not buUd all our faith, obedience, and
salvation on that consideration? Are not the properties of the divine
nature everywhere in the Scripture declared and proposed unto us
for the ingenerating and establishing faith in us, and to be the object
of, and exercise of, all grace and obedience? And is it now become
a crime that any should seek to declare and instruct others in these
things from the Scripture, and to the same end for which they are
therein revealed? Is this, with any evidence of sobriety, to be tra
duced as a " ransacking the boundless perfections of the divine nature,
to dress up the person of the Mediator"? Is he a Christian, or doth
he deserve that name, who contemns or despiseth the consideration
of the properties of the divine nature in the person of Christ (see
Isa vi. 1-4; John xU 41; Isa. ix. 6; John i. 14; PhU. ii. 6, etc.), or
shall thinkfthat the grace or excellencies of his person do not prin
cipally constt/t in them, as the human nature is united thereunto?
Fifthly, " They consider all the glorious effects of his mediation."
All the effects of Christ's mediation, — all the things that are spoken
of the gospel, etc., do all of them declare the excellency of the per
son of Christ, as effects declare their cause, and may and ought to be
considered unto that end, as occasion doth require; and no otherwise
are they considered by those whom he doth oppose. Sixthly, But the
end of these strange principles and practices, he tells us, is, " That.
all our hopes may be buUt, not on the gospel covenant, but on the
person of "Christ." But I say again, What is it that this man in
tends? What is become of a common regard to God and man?
Who do so buUd their hopes on Christ as to reject or despise the
gospel covenant, as he calls it? — though I am afraid, should he come
to explain himself, he vrill be at a loss about the true nature of the
gospel covenant, as I find him to be about the person and grace of
Christ. He telleth us, indeed, that " Not the person of Christ, but
the gospel, is the way." Did we ever say, " Not the covenant of

336 A VINDICATION OF
grace, but the person of Christ is aU we regard?" But whence comes
this causeless fear and jealousy, — or rather, this evil surmise, that if
any endeavour to exalt the person of Christ, immediately the cove
nant of the gospel (that is, in truth, the covenant which is declared
in the gospel) must be discarded? Is there an inconsistency between
Christ and the covenant? I never met with any who was so fearful
and jealous lest too much should be ascribed in the matter of our
salvation to Jesus Christ; and when there is no more so, but what
the Scripture doth expressly and in words assign unto him and affirm
of hun, instantly we have an outcry that the gospel and the covenant
are rejected, and that a " dispute lies between the person of Christ and
his gospel." But let hun not trouble himself ; for as he cannot, and
as he knows he cannot, produce any one word or one syllable out of
any writings of mine, that should derogate any thing from the ex
cellency, nature, necessity, or use of the new covenant; so, though
it may be he do not, and doth therefore fancy and dreamapf disputes
between Christ and the gospel, we do know how to respect both the
person of Christ and the covenant, — both Jesus Christ and the gos
pel, in thefr proper places. And in particular, we do know, that as it
is the person of Christ who is the author of the gospel, and who as
mediator in his work of mediation gives hfe, and efficacy, and estab
Ushment unto the covenant of grace; so both the gospel and that
covenant do declare the glory and design the exaltation of Jesus
Christ himself. Speaking, therefore, comparatively, aU our hopes are
buUt on Jesus Christ, who alone filleth all things; yet also we have
our hopes in God, through the covenant declared in the gospel, as
the way designing the rule of our obedience, securing ouijacceptance
and reward. And to deal as gently as I can warrant •yself to do
with this writer, the dispute he mentions between the person of
Christ and the gospel, which shall be the foundation of lour hope, is
only in his own fond imagination, distempered by disingenuity and
malevolence. For, if I should charge what the appearance of his ex
pressions will well bear, what he says seems to be out of a design,
influenced by ignorance or heresy, to exclude Jesus Christ, God and
man, from being the principal foundation of the church, and which
all its hopes are buUt upon. This being. the sum of his charge, 1
hope he will fully prove it in the quotations from my discourse, which
he now sets himself to produce; assuring him that if he do not, but
come short therein, setting aside his odious and foppish, profane de
ductions, I do aver them all in plain terms, that he may, on his next
occasion of writing, save his labour in searching after what he may
oppose. Thus, therefore, he proceeds, p. 205 : —
" To make this appear, I shall consider that account which Dr
Owen gives us of the personal graces and excellencies of Christ, which

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 337
in general consist in three things : — First,- His fitness to save, from
the grace of union, and the proper and necessary effects thereof.
Secondly, His fulness to. save, from the grace of communion, or the
free consequences of the grace of union. And, thirdly, His exceUency
to endear, from his complete suitableness to all the wants of the souls
of men. First, That he is fit to be a Saviour, from the grace of
union. And if you wUl understand what this strange grace of union
is, it is the uniting the nature of God and man in one person, which
makes him fit to be a Saviour to the uttermost. He lays his hand upon
God, by partaking of his nature ; and he lays his hand on us, by par
taking of our nature : and so becomes a days-man or umpire between
both. Now, though this be a great truth, that the union of the
divine and human nature in Christ did excellently quaUfy him for
the office of a mediator, yet this is the unhappiest man in expressing
and proving it that I have met with. For what an untoward repre
sentation is this of Christ's mediation, that he came to make peace
by laying his hands on God and men, as if he came to part a fray or
scuffle: and he might as well have named Gen. L 1, or Matt. L 1, or
any other place of Scripture, for the proof of it, as those he mentions."
To what end it is that he cites these passages out of my discourse
is somewhat difficult to divine. Himself confesseth that what is
asserted (at least in one of them) is a great truth, only, I am " the
unhappiest man in expressing and proving it that ever he met with."
It is evident enough to me, that he hath not met with many who
have treated of this subject, or hath Uttle understood those he hath
met withal; so that there may be yet some behind as unhappy as
myself And seeing he hath so good a leisure from other occasions,
as to spend his time in telling the world how unhappy I am in my
proving and expressing of what himself acknowledgeth to be true,
he may be pleased to take notice, that I am now sensible of my own
unhappiness also, in having fallen under a diversion from better em
ployments by such sad and woful impertinencies. But being at once
charged with both these misadventures, — untowardness in expres
sion, and weakness in the proof of a plain truth, I shaU wilhngly
admit of information, to mend my way of writing -for the future.
And the first reflection he casts on my expressions, is my caUing the
union of the two natures in Christ in the same person, the " grace of
union ;" for so he says, " If you would understand what this strange
grace of Union is." But I crave his pardon in not complying with
his directions, for my company's sake. No man, who hath once con
sulted the writings of the ancients on this subject, can be a stranger
unto y&pti ivtieeug, and " gratia unionis," they so continually occur in
the writings of all sorts of divines, both ancient and modern. Yea,
but there is yet worse behind ; for, " What an untoward representation
VOL. IL 22

338 A VINDICATION OF
is this of Christ's mediation, that he came to make peace by laying
his hands on God and men, as if he came to part a fray or scuffle."
My words are, " The uniting of the natures of God and man in one
person, made him fit to be a Saviour to the uttermost. He laid his
hand upon God, by partaking of his nature, Zech. xUi. 7; and he lays
his hand upon us, by partaking of our nature, Heb. U. 14, 16 : and so
' becomes a days-man or umpire between both." See what it is to be
adventurous. I doubt not but that he thought that I had invented
that expression, or at least, that I was the first who ever applied it
unto this interposition of Christ between God and man ; but as I took
the words, and so my warranty for the expression from the Scripture,
Job ix. 33, so it hath commonly been applied by divines in the same
manner, particularly by Bishop Usher (in his " Immanuel," pp. 8, 9,
as I remember) ; whose unhappiness in expressing himself in divinity
this man needs not much to bewail. But let my expressions be what
they wiU, I shall not escape the unhappiness and weakness of my
proofs; for " I might," he says, "as well have quoted Gen. i. 1, and
Matt. i. 1, for the proof of the unity of the divine and human nature
in the person of Christ, and his fitness thence to be a Saviour, as
those I named," — namely, Zech. xin. 7; Heb. U. 14, 16. Say you
so? Why, then, I do here undertake to maintain the personal union,
and the fitness of Christ from thence to be a Saviour, from these two
texts, against this man and all his fraternity in design. And at
present I cannot but wonder at his confidence, seeing I am sure he
cannot be ignorant that one of these places, at least, — namely, that of
Heb. ii. 16, — is as much, as frequently, as vehemently pleaded by aU
sorts of divines, ancient and modern, to prove the assumption of our
human nature into personal subsistence with the Son of God, that so
he might be }xav6g (fit and able to save us), as any one testimony in
the whole Scripture. And the same truth is as evidently contained
and expressed in the former, seeing no man could be the " fellow of
the Lord of hosts" but he that was partaker of the same nature with
him; and no one could have the sword of God upon him to smite
him, which was needful unto our salvation, but he that was partaker
of our nature, or man also. And the mere recital of these testi
monies was sufficient unto my purpose in that place, where I designed
only to declare, and not dispute the truth. If he yet think that I
cannot prove what I assert from these testimonies, let him consult
my " Vindiciae Evangelicse," where, according as that work' required,
I have directly pleaded these scriptures to the same purpose, insist
ing at large on the vindication of one of them ; and let him answer
what I have there pleaded, if he be able. And I shall aUow him to
make his advantage unto that purpose, if he please, of whatever
evasions the Socinians have found out to escape the force of that tes-

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE 339
timony. For there is none of them of any note but have attempted
by various artifices to shield thefr opinion, in denying the assumption
of our human nature into personal union with the Son of God, and
therewithal his pre-existence unto his nativity of the blessed Virgin,
from the divine evidence given against it in that place of Heb. ii. 16;
which yet, if this author may be believed, doth make no more
agamst them than Gen. i. 1. Wherefore, this severe censure, together
with the modesty of the expression, wherein Christ making peace
between God and man is compared to the parting of a fray or scuffle,
may pass at the same rate and value with those which are gone before
His ensuing pages are taken up, for the most part, with the tran
scription of passages out of my discourse, raked together from several
places at his pleasure. I shall not impose the needless labour on the
reader of a third perusal of them : nor shall I take the pains to re
store the several passages to their proper place and coherence, which
he hath rent them from, to try his skill and strength upon them
separately and apart ; for I see not that they stand in need of using
the least of their own circumstantial evidence in their vindication.
I shall therefore only take notice of his exceptions against them.
And, p. 207, whereas I had said on some occasion, that on such a
supposition we could have supplies of grace only in a moral way, it
falls under his derision in his parenthesis; and that is a very pitiful
way indeed. But I must yet teU him, by the way, that if he allow
of no supplies of grace but in a moral way, he is a Pelagian, and as
such, stands condemned by the catholic church. And when his
occasions will permit it, I desire he would answer what is written by
myself in another discourse, in the refutation of this sole moral ope
ration of grace, and the assertion of anpther way of the communica
tion of it unto us. Leave fooling, and "the unhappiest man in
expressing himself that ever I met with" wiU not do it; he must
betake himself to another course, if he intend to engage into the
handUng of things of this nature. He adds, whereas I had said, ¦
" ' The grace of the promises' (of the person of Christ you mean) :" I
know well enough what I mean ; but the truth is, I know not well
what he means; nor whether it be out of ignorance that he doth
indeed fancy an opposition between Christ and the promises, that
what is ascribed unto the one must needs be derogated from the
other, when the promise is but the means and instrument of convey
ing the grace of Christ unto us; or whether it proceeds from a real
dislike that the person of Christ — that is, Jesus Christ himself — should
be esteemed of any use or consideration in religion, that he talks at
this rate. But from whence ever it proceeds, this cavUling humour
is unworthy of any man of ingenuity or learning. By his foUowing
parenthesis (" a world of sin is something") I suppose I have some-

340 A VINDICATION OF
¦ where used that expression, whence it is reflected on; but he quotes
not the place, and I cannot find it. 1 shall therefore only at present
teU him, as (if I remember aright) I have done already, that I vrill
not come to him nor any of his companions to learn to express my
self in these things ; and, moreover, that I despise their censures.
The discourses he is carping at in particular in this place are neither
doctrinal nor argumentative, but consist in the application of truths
before proved unto the minds and affections of men. And, as I said,
I wUl not come to him nor his fraternity to learn how to manage
such a subject, much less a logical and argumentative way of reason
ing ; nor have I any inducement thereunto from any thing that as yet
I have seen in their writings. It also troubles him, p. 208, that
whereas I know how unsuited the best and most accurate of our ex
pressions are unto the true nature and being of divine things, as they
are in themselves, and what need we have to make use of allusions,
and sometimes less proper expressions, to convey a sense of them
unto the minds and affections of men, I had once or twice used that
tirav&pQueig, " if I may so say;" which yet if he had not known used in
other good authors, treating of things of the same nature, he knew
I could take protection against his severity under the example of the
apostle, using words to the same purpose upon an alike occasion,
Heb. vii But at length he intends to be serious, and from those
words of mine, " Here is mercy enough for the greatest, the oldest,
the stubbornest transgressor;" he adds, "Enough, in all reason, this:
what a comfort is it to sinners to have such a God for thefr Saviour,
whose grace is boundless and bottomless, and exceeds the largest
dimensions of thefr sins, though there be a world of sin in them.
But what, now, if the divine nature itself have not such an endless,
boundless, bottomless grace and compassion as the doctor now talks
of? For at other times, when it serves his turn better, we can hear
nothing from him but the ' naturalness of God's vindictive justice.'
Though God be rich in mercy, he never told us that his mercy was
so boundless and bottomless; he had given a great many demonstra
tions of the severity of his anger against sinners, who could not be
much worse than the ' greatest, the oldest, and the stubbornest trans
gressors.'" Let the reader take notice, that I propose no grace in Christ unto
or for such sinners, but only that which may invite all sorts of them,
though under the most discouraging quaUfications, to come unto him
for grace and mercy by faith and repentance. And on supposition
that this was my sense, as he cannot deny it to be, I add only, in
answer, that this his profane scoffing at it, is that which reflects on
Christ and his gospel, and God himself and his word ; which must
be accounted for. See Isa. Iv. 7. Secondly, For the opposition which

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 341
he chUdishly frames between God's vindictive justice and his mercy
and grace, it is answered already. Thirdly, It is false that God hath
not told us that his grace is boundless and bottomless, in the sense
wherein I use those words, sufficient to pardon the greatest, the oldest,
the stubbornest of sinners, — namely, that turn unto him by faith and
repentance ; and he who knows not how this consists with severity
and anger against impenitent sinners, is yet to learn his catechism.
But yet he adds farther, pp. 208, 209, " Supposing the divine nature
were such a bottomless fountain of grace, how comes this to be a per
sonal grace of the Mediator? For a mediator, as mediator, ought not
to be considered as the fountain, but as the minister of grace. God
the Father certainly ought to come in for a share, at least, in being
the fountain of grace, though the doctor is pleased to take no notice
of him. But how excellent is the grace of Christ's person above the
grace of the gospel ; for that is a bounded and limited thing, a strait
gate and narrow way, that leadeth unto life. There is no such bound
less mercy as all the sins in the world cannot equal its dimensions,
as will save the greatest, the oldest, and the stubbornest transgres
sors." I beg the reader to believe that I am now so utterly weary with
the repetition of these impertinencies, that I can hardly prevail with
myself to fill my pen once more with ink about them ; and I see no
reason now to go on, but only thatT have begun ; and, on aU accounts,
I shaU be as brief as possible. I say, then, first, I did not consi
der this boundless grace in Christ as mediator, but considered it as
in him who is mediator; and so the' divine nature, with all its pro
perties, are greatly to be considered in him, if the gospel be true.
But, secondly, It is untrue that Christ, as mediator, is only the minis
ter of grace, and not the fountain of it ; for he is mediator as God
and man in one person. Thirdly, To suppose an exemption of the
person of the Father from being the fountain of grace absolutely, in
the order of the divine subsistence of the persons in the Trinity, and
of their operations suited thereunto, upon the ascription of it unto the
Son, is a fond imagination, which could befall no man who understands
any thing of things of this nature. It doth as well follow, that if the
Son created the world, the Father did not; if the Son uphold all
things by the word of his power, the Father doth not ; — that is, that
the Son is not in the Father, nor the Father in the Son. The acts,
indeed, of Christ's mediation respect the ministration of grace, being
the procuring and communicating causes thereof; but the person of
Christ the mediator is the fountain of grace. So they thought who
beheld bis glory, — " The glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth." But the especial relation of grace unto the
Father, as sending the Son; unto the Son, as sent by him and incar-

3t2 A VINDICATION OF
nate; and unto the Holy Spirit, as proceeding from and sent by them
both, I have elsewhere fully declared, and shaU not in this place
(which, indeed, wUl scarce give admittance unto any thing of so
serious a nature) again insist thereon. Fourthly, The opposition
which he would again set between Christ and the gospel is impious
in itself; and, if he thinks to charge it on me, openly false. I chal
lenge him and all his accomplices to produce any one word out of
any writing of mine that, from a plea or pretence of grace in Christ,
should give countenance unto any in the neglect of the least precept
given or duty required in the gospel. And notwithstanding all that
I have said or taught concerning the boundless, bottomless grace and
mercy of Christ towards believing, humble, penitent sinners, I do
believe the way of gospel obedience, indispensably required to be
walked in by all that will come -to the enjoyment of God, to be so
narrow, that no revilers, nor false accusers, nof scoffers, nor despisers
of gospel mysteries, continuing so to be, can walk therein ; — but that
there is not grace and mercy declared and tendered in the gospel
also unto all sorts of sinners, under any qualifications whatever, who,
upon its invitation, will come to God through Jesus Christ by faith
and repentance, is an impious imagination.
A discourse much of the same nature follows, concerning the love
of Christ, after he hath treated his person and grace at his pleasure.
And this he takes occasion for from some passages in my book (as
formerly), scraped together from several places, so as he thought fit
and convenient unto his purpose. P. 209, " Thus the love of Christ
is an eternal love, because his divine nature is eternal; and it is an
unchangeable love, because his divine nature is unchangeable; and
his love is fruitful, for it being the love of God, it must be effectual
and fruitful in producing all the things which he wUleth unto his
beloved. He loves life, grace, holiness into us, loves us into cove
nant, loves us into heaven. This is an excellent love, indeed, which
doth all for us, and leaves nothing for us to do. We owe this dis
covery to an acquaintance with Christ's person, or rather with his
divine nature ; for the gospel is very silent in this matter. All that
the gospel tells us is, that Christ loveth sinners, so as to die for them ;
that he loves good men, who believe and obey his gospel, so as to
save them ; that he continues to love them while they continue to be
good, but hates them when they return to their old vices : and there
fore, I say, there is great reason for sinners to fetch thefr comforts
not from the gpspel, but from the person of Christ, which as far
excels the gospel as the gospel excels the law."
I do suppose the expressions mentioned are, for the substance of
them, in my book ; and shall, therefore, only inquire what it is in them
which he excepteth against, and for which I am reproached, as one

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 343
that hath an acquaintance with Christ's person; which is now grown
so common and trite an expression, that were it not condited unto
some men's palates by its profaneness, it would argue a great barren
ness in this author's invention, that can vary no more in the topic
of reviling. It had been well if his licenser had accommodated him
with some part of his talent herein. But what is it that is excepted
against? Is it that the love of Christ, as- he is God, is eternal? or is
it that it is unchangeable? or is it that it is fruitful or effective of
good things unto the persons beloved? The philosopher tells us, that
to [have] love for any one, is, BobXeatlai rm a ofcrai ayadd, xal t'b xari
Sbva/Jiiv Tpaxnxbv that robruv. It is this efficacy of the love of Christ
which must bear all the present charge. The meaning of my words,
therefore, is, that the love of Christ is unto us the cause "of life, grace,
holiness, and the reward of heaven. And because it is in the nature
of love to be effective, according unto the abUity of the person loving,
of the good which it wills unto the object beloved, I expressed it as
I thought meet, by loving these things to us. And I am so far on
this occasion, and [on account of] the severe reflection on me for
an acquaintance with Christ, from altering my thoughts, that I say
stUl with confidence, he- who is otherwise minded is no Christian.
And if this man knows not how the love of Christ is the cause of
grace and glory, how it is effective of them, and that in a perfect
consistency vrith aU other causes and means of them, and the neces
sity of our obedience, he may do well to abstain a Uttle from writing,
untU he is better informed. But saith he, " This is an excellent love,
indeed, which doth aU for us, and leaves us nothing to do." But
who told him so? who ever said so? Doth he think that if our
life, grace, ' holiness, glory, be from the love of Christ originally,
causally, by virtue of his divine, gracious operations in us and towards
us, that there is no duty incumbent on them who would be made
partakers of them, or use or improve them unto thefr proper ends?
Shall we, then, to please him, say that we have neither life, nor grace,
nor holiness, nor glory, from the love of Christ; but whereas most of
them are our own duties, we have them wholly from ourselves? Let
them do so who have a riiind to renounce Christ and his gospel ; I
shall come into no partnership with them. [As] for what he adds,
" All that the gospel teaches us," etc., he should have done well to
have said, as far as he knows ; which is a limitation with a witness. If
this be all' the gospel which the man knows and preaches, I pity
them whom he hath taken under his ^instruction. Doth Christ in
his love do nothing unto the quickening and conversion of men?
nothing to the purification and sanctification of beUevers? nothing
as to their consolation and estabUshment? nothing as to the ad
ministration of strength against temptations? nothing as to supplies

344 A VINDICATION OF
of 'grace, in the increase of faith, love, and obedience, etc.? This
ignorance or profaneness is greatly to be bewailed, as his ensuing
scoff, repeated now usque ad nauseam, about an opposition between
Christ and his gospel, is to be despised. And if the Lord Christ
hath no other love but what this man wUl aUow, the state of the
church in this world depends on a very slender thread. But attempts
of this nature wUl faU short enough of prevailing with sober Christians
to forego their faith and persuasion, — that it is from the love of Christ
that beUevers are preserved in that condition wherein he doth and
wUl approve of them. Yea, to suppose that this is all the grace of
the gospel, that whilst men are good Christ loves them, and when
they are bad he hates them (both which are true) ; and farther, that
he doth by his grace neither make them good, nor preserve them
that are so made, — is to renounce aU that is properly so called.
He yet proceeds, first to evert this love which I asserted, and then
to declare his own apprehensions concerning the love of Christ. The
first in the ensuing words, p. 210, " But, methinks this is a very odd
way of arguing from the divine nature; for if the love of Christ as
God be so infinite, eternal, unchangeable, fruitful, I would wUlingly
understand how sin, death, and misery came into the world. For if
this love be so eternal and unchangeable, because the divine nature
is so, then it was always so; for God always was what he is, and that
which is eternal could never be other than it is now : and why could
not this eternal, and unchangeable, and fruitful love, as weU preserve
us from faUing into sin, and misery, and death, as love life and holi
ness into us ? For it is a Uttle odd, first to love us into sin and
death, that then he may love us into life and hoUness: which, indeed,
could not be, if this love of God were always so unchangeable- and
fruitful as this author persuades us it is now; for if this love had
always loved Ufe and hoUness into us, I cannot conceive how it should
happen that we should sin and die."
It is well if he know what it is that he aims at in these words; I
am sure what he says doth not in the least impeach the truth which
he designs to oppose. The name and nature of God are everywhere
in the Scripture proposed unto us as the object of, and encourage
ment unto, our faith, and his love in particular is therein represented
unchangeable, because he himself is so ; but it doth not hence follow
that God loveth any one naturally, or necessarily. His love is a free
act of his wiU ; and therefore, though it be hke himself, such as be
comes his nature, yet it is not necessarUy determined on any object,
nor limited as unto the nature, degrees, and effects of it. He loves
whom he pleaseth, and as unto what end he pleaseth. Jacob he
loved, and Esau he hated ; and those effects which, from his love or
out of it, he wUl communicate unto them, are various, according to the

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSK 345
counsel of his wiU. Some he loves only as to temporal and common
mercies, some as to spiritual grace and glory ; for he hath mercy on
whom he wUl have mercy. Wherefore it is no way contrary unto,
and inconsistent with, the eternity, the immutability, and fruitfulness
of the love of God, that he suffered sin to enter into the world, or
that he doth dispense more grace in Jesus Christ under the New
Testament than he did under the Old. God is always the same that
he was; love in God is always of the same nature that it was; but
the objects, acts, and effects of this love, with the measures and de
grees of them, are the issues of the counsel or free purposes of his
will. Want of the understanding hereof makes this man imagine,
that if God's love in Christ, wherewith he loveth us, be eternal and
fruitful, then must God necessarily always — in or out of Christ, under
the old or new covenant — love all persons, elect or not elect, with the
same love as to the effects and fruits of it; which is a wondrous pro
found apprehension. The reader, therefore, if he please, may take
notice, that the love which I intend, and whereunto I ascribe those
properties, is the especial love of God in Christ unto the elect. Con
cerning this himself says, that he loves them with an everlasting love,
and therefore "draws them with loving-kindness," Jer. xxxi. 3; which
love, I shaU be bold to say, is eternal and fruitful. And hence, as he
changeth not, whereon the sons of Jacob are not consumed, MaL
in. 6, there being with him "neither variableness, nor shadow of
turning," James L 17; so accordingly he hath in this matter, by his
promise and oath, declared the immutability of his counsel, Heb. vi
17, 18, — which seems to intimate that his love is unchangeable. "And
whereas this eternal love is in Christ Jesus as the way and means of
making it certain in all its effects, and with respect unto its whole
design, it is fruitful in all graee and glory, Eph. i. 3-5. And if he
cannot understand how, notwithstanding all this, sin so entered into
the world under the law of creation and the first covenant as to
defeat in us all the benefits thereof, at present I cannot help him;
for, as I am sure enough he would scorn to learn any thing of me,
so I am not at leisure to put it to the trial.
His own account of the love of God succeeds. P. 211, " Not that I
deny that the love of God is eternal, unchangeable, fruitful ; that is,
that God was always good, and always continues good, and mani-
festeth his love and goodness in such ways as are suitable to his
nature, which is the fruitfulness of it: but then, the unchangeable-
ness of God's love doth not consist in being always determined to
the same object, but that he always loves for the same reason; that
is, that he always loves true virtue and goodness, wherever he sees it,
and never ceases to love any person tiU he ceases to be good: and
then the immutabUity of his love is the reason why he loves no

346 A VINDICATION OF
longer; for should he love a wicked man, the reason and nature ot
his love would change. And the fruitfulness of God's love, with respect
to the methods of his grace and providence, doth not consist in pro
curing what he loves by an omnipotent and irresistible power; for
then sin and death could never have entered into the world : but he
governs and doth good- to his creatures, in such ways as are most
suitable to thefr natures. He governs reasonable creatures by prin
ciples of reason, as he doth the material world by the necessary laws
of matter, and brute creatures by" the instincts and propensities of
nature." This may pass for a system of his divinity, which how he will
reconcile unto the doctrine of the church of England in her articles,
she and he may do well to consider. But, whatever he means by
the love of God always determined unto the same object, it were an
easy thing to prove, beyond the reach of his contradiction, that per
sons are the objects of God's eternal love, as weU as things and quali
fications are of his approbation ; or, that he loves some persons with
an everlasting and unchangeable love, so as to preserve them from
all ruining evils, and so as they may be always meet objects of his
approving love, unto his glory : and whereas these things have been
debated and disputed on all hands with much learning and diligence,
our author is a very happy man if, with a few such loose expressions
as these repeated, he thinks to determine aU the controversies about
election and effectual grace, with perseverance, on the Pelagian side.
The hypothesis here maintained, that because God always and un
changeably approves of what is good in any, or of the obedience of his
creatures, and disapproves or hates sin, condemning it in his law, [and]
that therefore he may love the same person one day and hate him
another, notwithstanding his pretences that he is constant unto the
reason of his love, vrill inevitably faU into one of these conclusions: —
either, that God indeed never loveth any man, be he who he will ;
or, that he is changeable in his love, upon outward, external reasons,
as we are : and let him choose which he vrill own. In the mean
time, such a love of God towards believers as shaU always effectually
preserve them meet objects of his love and approbation, is not to be
baffled by such trifling impertinencies. His next reflection is on the
manner of God's operations in the communication of grace and holi
ness; which, he says, is " not by omnipotent and irresistible power,"-—
confirming his assertion by that consideration, that then sin and
death could never have entered into the world; which is resolved
into another sweet supposition, that God must needs act the same
power of grace towards aU mon, at all times, under each covenant,
- whether he will or no. But this it is to be a happy disputant, — aU
things succeed weU with such persons which they undertake. And

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 347
as to the manner of the operation of grace, how far grace itself may
be said to be omnipotent, and in its operations frresistible, I have
fully declared there ; where he may oppose and refute it, if he have
any mind thereunto. His present attempt against it in those words,
that God " governs reasonable creatures by principles of reason," is
so weak in this case, and impertinent, that it deserves no considera
tion; for all the operations of divine grace are suited unto the rational
constitution of our beings, neither was ever man so wild as to fancy
any of them such as are inconsistent with, or do offer force unto, the
faculties of our souls in thefr operations. Yea, that which elevates,
aids, and assists our rational faculties in their operations on and to
wards their proper objects, which is the work of efficacious grace,
is the principal preservative of their power and liberty, and can be
no way to their prejudice. And we do, moreover, acknowledge that
those v proposals which are made in the gospel unto our reason, are
eminently suited to excite and prevail with it unto its proper use and
exercise in comphance with them. Hence, although the habit of faith,
or power of believing, be wrought in us by the Holy Ghost, yet the
word of the gospel is the cause and means of aU its acts, and the
whole obedience which it produceth. But if by " governing reason
able creatures by principles of reason," he intends that God deals
no otherwise by his grace with the souls of -men, but only by propos
ing objective arguments and motives unto a compUance with his wil],
without internal aids and assistances of grace, it is a gross piece of
Pelagianism, destructive of the gospel, sufficiently confuted elsewhere;
and he may explain himsplf as he pleaseth.
His proceed is, to transcribe some other passages, taken out of my
book here and there, in whose repetition he inserts some impertinent
exceptions ; but the design of the whole is to " state a controversy,"
as he calls it, between us and them, or those whom he calleth " they"
and "we," whoever they be. And this, upon the occasion of my
mentioning the fulness of grace, life, and righteousness that is in
Christ, he doth in these words: — P. 215, "They say that these are
the personal graces of Christ as mediator, which are inherent in him,
and must be derived from his person ; we say, they sigmfy the per
fection and excellency of his religion, as being the most perfect and'
complete declaration of the wUl of God, and the most powerful method
of the divine wisdom for the reforming of the world, as it prescribes
the only righteousness which is acceptable to God, and dfrects us in
the only way to life and immortality."
I shall not absolutely accept of the terms of this controversy, as to
the state of it on our part, proposed by him ; and yet I shall not much
vary from them. We say, therefore, that " Jesus Christ being full
of all grace, excellencies, and perfections, he communicates them unto

348 A VINDICATION OF
us in that degree as is necessary for us, and in proportion unto his
abundant charity and goodness towards us; and we Christians, as his
body, or feUow-members of his human nature, receive grace and
mercy, flowing from him to us." This state of the controversy on our
side I suppose he will not refuse, nor the terms of it; but will own
them to be ours, though he wUl not, it may be, allow some of them
to be proper or convenient. And that he may know who his " they"
are, who are at this end of the difference, he may be pleased to take
notice that these words are the whole and entire paraphrase of Dr
Hammond on John i. 16; the first testimony he undertakes to answer.
And when this author hath replied to Mr Hooker, Dr Jackson, and
him, and such other pillars of the church of England as concur with
them, it will be time enough for me to consider hw I shall defend
myself against him. Or, if he wUl take the controversy on our part
in terms more dfrectly expressive of my mind, it is the person of
Christ is the fountain of all grace to the church (as he well observes
my judgment to be), and that from him all grace and mercy is de
rived unto us; and then I do maintain, that the "they" whom he
opposeth, are not only the church of England, but the whole cathoUc
church in all ages. Who the " we" are, on the other hand, who
reject this assertion, and believe that all the testimonies concerning
the fulness of grace in Christ, and the communication thereof unto
us, do only declare the excellency of his religion, is not easy to be
conjectured ;- for unless it be the people of Racow, I know not who
are his associates. And let him but name three divines of any repu
tation in the church of England since the Reformation, who have
given the least countenance unto his assertions, negative or positive,
and I vrill acknowledge that he hath better associates in his profession
than as yet I believe he hath. But that Jesus Christ himself, God
and man in one person, the mediator between God and man, is not
a fountain of grace and mercy to his church ; that there is no real
internal grace communicated by him, or derived from him unto his
mystical body ; that the fulness which is in him, or said to be in him,
of grace and truth, of unsearchable riches of grace, etc., is nothing
but the doctrine which he taught, as the most complete and perfect
declaration of the will of God, — are opinions that cannot be divulged,
under pretence of authority, without the most pernicious scandal to
the present church of England. And if this be the man's religion,
that this is all the fulness we receive from Christ, — " a perfect revela
tion of the divine will concerning the salvation of mankind ; which
contains so many excellent promises that it may well be called ' grace ;'
and prescribes such a plain and simple religion, so agreeable to the
natural notions of good and evU, that it may well be called ' truth ;'" 
and complying with its doctrine, or yielding obedience untp its pre-

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 349
cepts and believing the promises which it gives, in our own strength,
without any real aid, assistance, or communication of internal saving
grace from the person of Jesus Christ, is our righteousness before
God, whereon and for which we are justified, — I know as weU as he
whence it came, and perhaps better than he whither it wUl go.
The remaining discourse of this chapter consisteth of two parts : —
First, An attempt to disprove any communication of real internal grace
from the Lord Christ unto believers for thefr sanctification; Secondly,
An endeavour to refute the imputation of his righteousness unto us
for our justification. In the first he contends that all the fulness of
grace and truth said to be in Christ consists either in the doctrine of
the gospel or in the largeness of his church. In the latter, that faith
in Christ is nothing but believing the gospel, and the authority of
Christ who revealed it; and by yielding obedience whereunto, we are
justified before God, on the account of an internal inherent righteous
ness in ourselves. Now, these are no small undertakings; the first
of them being expressly contrary to the sense of the cathoUc church
in all ages (for the Pelagians and the Socinians are by common agree
ment excluded from an interest therein); and the latter of them, con
trary to the plain confessions of all the reformed churches, with the
constant doctrine of this church of England: and therefore we may
justly expect that they should be managed with much strength of
argument, and evident demonstration. But the unhappiness of it is
(I wiU not say his, but ours), that these are not things which our au
thor as yet hath accustomed himself unto ; and I cannot but say, that
to my knowledge I never read a more weak, loose, and impertinent
discourse, upon so weighty subjects, in my whole life before: he
must have little to do, who can afford to spend his time in a parti
cular examination of it, unless it be in the exposition of those places
which are almost verbatim transcribed out of Schlichtingius.1 Be
sides, for the first truth which he opposeth, I have confirmed it in a
discourse which I suppose may be made public before this come to
view, beyond what I expect any sober reply unto from him. Some
texts of Scripture that mention a fulness in Christ he chooseth out,
to manifest (to speak a word by the way) that indeed they do not
intend any such fulness in Christ himself. And the first is John 1. 16;
the exposition whereof which he gives is that of SchUchtingius, who
yet extends the import of the words beyond what he wUl allow. The
enforcement which he gives unto his exposition, by comparing the
14th and 17th verses with the 16th, is both weak and contradictory
t Jonas Schlichtingius was a Socinian author. He wrote " A Confession of
Christian Faith, published in the name of the Churches which in Poland acknow
ledge one God, and bis only begotten Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit." It
appeared in the year 1642. — En.

350 A VINDICATION OF
of itself; for the words of the 14th verse are, " The Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." It is evi
dent beyond contradiction, that the expression, " full of grace and
truth," is exegetical of his glory as the only begotten of the Father,
which was the glory of his person, and not the doctrine of the gospel.
And for the opposition that is made between the law given by Moses,
and the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ, I shaU yet
rather adhere to the sense of the ancient church, and the most emi
nent doctors of it, which, if he knows not it to be concerning the
effectual communication of real, renewing, sanctifying grace by Jesus
Christ, there are enow who can inform him ; rather than that woful
gloss upon them, — "His doctrine is called 'grace,' because accompanied
with such excellent promises ; and may weU be called ' truth,' because
so agreeable to the natural notions of good and evil," — which is the
confession of the Pelagian unbelief: but these things are not my pre
sent concernment. For the latter part of his discourse, in his oppo
sition unto the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, as he doth
not go about once to state or declare the sense wherein it is pleaded
for, nor produceth any one of the arguments wherewith it is con
firmed, and omitteth the mention of most of the particidar testimonies
which declare and establish it; so, as unto those few which he takes
notice of, he expressly founds his answers unto them on that woful sub
terfuge, that if they are capable of another interpretation, or having
another sense given unto them, then nothing can be concluded from
them to that purpose, — by which the Socinians seek to shelter them
selves from all the testimonies that are given to his Deity and satis
faction. But I have no concernment, as I said, either in his opinions
or his way of reasoning; and do know that those who have so, need
not desire a better cause nor an easier adversary to deal withal.
In his third section, p. 279, he enters upon his exceptions unto
the union of believers unto Jesus Christ, and with great modesty, at
the entrance of his discourse, tells us, first, " how these men," with
whom he hath to do, " have fitted the person of Christ unto all the
wants and necessities of the sinner;" which yet, if he denies God
himself to have done, he is openly injurious unto his wisdom and
grace. The very first promise that was given concerning him was,
that he should save sinners from all their wants, evUs, and miseries,
that might, did, or could befall them by the entrance of sin. But
thus it falls out, when men will be talking of what they do not un
derstand Again, he adds how he hath " explained the Scripture
metaphors whereby the union between Christ and Christians is re
presented; but that these men, instead of explaining of those meta
phors, turn all religion into an allegory." But what if one should

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 3^1
now teU him, that his explanation of these metaphors is the most
absurd and irrational, aud argues the most fulsome ignorance of the
mystery of the gospel, that can be imagined; and that, on the other
side, those whom he traduceth do explain them unto the understand
ing and experience of all that believe, and that in a way suited and
directed unto by the Holy Ghost himself, to farther their faith, obe
dience, and consolation? ' As far as I perceive, he would be at no small
loss how to relieve himself under this censure. The first thing he
begins withal, and wherein, in the first place, I fall under his dis
pleasure, is about the conjugal relation between Christ and believers,
which he treats of, p. 280. " As for example," saith he, " Christ is
called a husband, the church his spouse; and now aU the invitations
of the gospel are Christ's wooing and making love to his spouse; —
and what other men call believing the gospel of Christ, whereby we
devote ourselves to his service, these men call that consent and con
tract, which make up the marriage betwixt Christ and believers.
Christ takes us for his spouse, and we take Christ for our husband,
and that with aU the solemnities of marriage, except the ring, which
is left out as an antichristian ceremony ; Christ saying thus, ' This
is that we wUl consent unto, that I wul be for thee, and thou shalt
be for me, and not for another.' Christ gives himself to the soul,
with aU his excellencies, righteousness, preciousness, graces, and
eminencies, to be its saviour, head, and husband, — to dwell vrith it
in this holy relation ; and the soul Ukes Christ for his exceUencies,
graces, suitableness, far above aU other beloveds whatsoever, and
accepts of Christ by the wUl for its husband, lord, and saviour.
And thus the marriage is completed ; and this is the day of Christ's
espousals, and of the gladness of his heart-. And now follow all mutual
conjugal affections; which, on Christ's part, consist in delight, valua
tion, pity, compassion, bounty; on the saints' part, in delight, valua
tion, chastity, duty. But I have already corrected this fooling with
Scripture metaphors and phrases."
It might, perhaps, not unbecome this author to be a little more
sparing of his correction, unless his authority were more than it is,
and his skill, also, in the management of it; for at present those
whom he attempts upon are altogether insensible of any effects of
his severity. But whereas he seems niuch at a loss how to evi
dence his own wisdom any other way than by calling them fools
with whom he hath to do, it is sufficient to plead his excuse. But
what is it that he is here so displeased at, as unfit for a man of his
wisdom to bear withal, and therefore calls it " fooling?" Is it that
there is a conjugal relation between Christ and the church? — that
he is the bridegroom and husband of the church, and that the church
is his bride and spouse?- — that he becomes so unto it by a voluntarily,

352 A VINDICATION OF
gracious act of his love, and that the church enters into that relation
with him by thefr acceptance of him in that relation, and voluntarily
giving up themselves unto him in faith, love, and obedience, suited
thereunto? Is it that he loveth his church and cherisheth it as a
husband? or that the church gives up itself in chaste and holy obe
dience unto him as her spouse? or is it my way and manner of ex
pressing these things wherewith he is so provoked? If it be the latter,
I desfre he would, for his own satisfaction, take notice that I con
temn his censures, and appeal to the judgment of those who have
more understanding and experience in these things than, for aught
I can discern by his writings, he hath yet attained unto. If it be
the former, they are aU of them so proved and confirmed from the
Scripture in that very discourse which he excepteth against, as that
he is not able to answer or reply one serious word thereunto. In
deed, to deny it, is to renounce the gospel and the catholic faith. It
is, therefore, to no purpose for me here to go over again the nature of
this relation between Christ and the church, — wherein reaUy and truly
it doth consist; what it is the Scripture instructeth us in thereby;
what is that love, care, and tenderness of Christ, which it would
have us thence to learn; and what is our own duty with respect
thereunto, together with the consolation thence arising: the whole
of this work is already discharged in that discourse which these im
pertinent cavUs are raised against, and that suitably to the sense of
the church in aU ages, and of aU sound expositors of those very many
places of Scripture which I have urged and insisted on to that pur
pose. Let him, if he please, a little lay aside the severity of his
corrections and befooling of men, and answer any material passage
in the whole discourse, if he be able ; or discover any thing in it not
agreeable to the analogy of faith, or the sense of the ancient church,
if he can. And though he seem, both here and in some of his ensu
ing pages, to have a particular contempt of what is cited or improved
out of the book of Canticles to this purpose; yet, if he either deny
that that whole book doth mystically express the conjugal relation
that is between Christ and bis church, with their mutual affections
and delight in each other, or that the places particularly insisted on
by me are not duly appUed unto their proper intention, I can, at
least, confirm them both by the authority of such persons as whose
antiquity and learning will exercise the utmost of his confidence in
calling them fools for their pains.
From hence for sundry pages he is pleased to give me a Uttle re
spite, whilst he diverts his severity unto another; unto whose wUl
and choice what to do in it I shaU leave his pecuUar concern as
knowing full weU how easy it is for him to vindicate what he hath
written on this subject from his impertinent exceptions, if he please.

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 353
In the meantime, if this author supposeth to add unto the reputation
of his ingenuity and modesty by assaulting with a few pitiful cavils
a book written with so much learning, judgment, and moderation, as
that is which he excepts against, not daring in the meantime to con
tend with it in any thing of the expository or the argumentative
part of it, but only to discover a malevolent desire to obstruct the
use which it hath been of, and may yet farther be, to the church of
God, — I hope he will not find many rivals in such a design. For my
part, I do suppose it more becoming Christian modesty and sobriety,
where men have laboured according to their ability in the explication
of the mysteries of Christian religion, and that with an avowed in
tention to promote holiness and gospel obedience, to accept of what
they have attained, wherein we can come unto a compliance with
them; than, passing by whatever we cannot but approve of, or are
not able to disprove, to make it our business to cavil at such expres
sions as either we do not Uke, or hope to pervert and abuse to their
disadvantage. P. 296, he returns again to my discourse, and fiercely pursues it
for sundry leaves, in such a manner as becomes him, and is usual
with him. That part of my book which he deals withal, is from p.
1761 unto p. 187; and if any person of ingenuity and judgment wUl
be pleased but to peruse it, and to compare it with this man's excep
tions; I am secure it will need no farther vindication. But as it is
represented in his cavUling way, it is impossible for any man either
to conceive what is the true design of my discourse, or what the argu
ments wherewith what I assert is confirmed; which he doth most
unduly pretend to give an account of: for he so chops, and changes,
and alters at his pleasure, going backwards and forwards, and that
from one thing to another, without any regard unto a scholastic or
ingenuous debate of any thing that might be called a controversy,
merely to seek, out an appearance of advantage to vent his cavilling
exceptions, as no judgment can rationally be made of his whole dis
course, but only that he had a mind to have cast aspersions on mine,
if he had known how. But such stuff as it is, we must now take the
measure of it, and consider of what use it may be. And first he
quotes those words from my book, " That Christ fulfilled all right
eousness as he was mediator; and that whatever he did as mediator,
he did it for them whose mediator he was, or in whose stead and
for whose good he executed the office of a mediator before God : and
hence it is that his complete and perfect obedience to the law is
reckoned to us." , He adds, "This is well said, if it were as well
proved. And because this is a matter of great consequence, I shall
„st examine those reasons the doctor alleges to prove that Christ
1 From p. 154 to p. 164 of this volume.
VOL. IL 23

354 A VINDICATION OF
fulfilled aU righteousness, as he was mediator, in their stead whcee
mediator he was."
These assertions are gathered up from several places in my dis
course, though p. 1821 is cited for them alL And if any one find
himself concerned in these things, I may demand of him the labour
of thefr perusal in my book itself; and for those who shall refuse a
compliance with so reasonable a request, I do not esteem myself
obliged to tender them any farther satisfaction. However, I say
again, that the Lord Christ fulfiUed all righteousness as mediator;
and that what he did as mediator, he did it for them whose mediator
he was, or in whose stead and for whose good he executed the office
of a mediator before God. He says, " It is well said, if it were as
well proved." I say, it is all proved in the places where it is asserted,
and that with such testimonies and arguments as he dares not,touch
upon And although he pretends to examine the reasons that I
allege to prove that Christ fulfilled all righteousness, as he was medi
ator, in thefr stead whose mediator he was, yet indeed he doth not
do so. For, first, I say no such thing as he here feigns me to say, —
namely, that " Christ as mediator fulfilled all righteousness in our
stead;" but only, that " Christ being the mediator, in our stead ful
filled aU righteousness:" which is another thing, though perhaps he
understands not the difference. Nor doth he so much as take notice
of that testimony which is immediately subjoined unto the words he
cites in the confirmation of them ; but he wUl disprove this assertion,
or at least manifest that it cannot be proved. And this he enters
upon, p. 297, " As for the first, we have some reason to require good
proof of this, since the notion of a mediator inoludes no such thing.
A mediator is one who interposeth between two differing parties, to
accommodate the difference; but it was never heard of yet, that it
was the office of a mediator to perform the terms and conditions him
self. Moses was the mediator of the first covenant, Gal iu. 19 ; and
his office was to receive the law from God, to deUver it to the people,
to command them to observe those rites, and sacrifioes, and expia
tions which God had ordained: but he was not to fulfil the right
eousness of the law for the whole congregation. Thus Christ is now
the mediator of a better covenant ; and his office required that he
should preach the gospel, which contains the terms of peace and re
concUiation beween God and men; and since God would not enter
into covenant with sinners without the intervention of a sacrifice, he
dies too, as a sacrifice and propitiation for the sins of the world."
I yet suppose that he observed not the inconsistencies of this dis
course, and therefore shaU a little mind him of them, although I am
no way concerned in it or them. For, first, He teUs us, that " a
1 Pp. 162, 163, of this volume.

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 355
mediator is one who interposeth between two differing parties, to
accommodate the difference;" and then gives us an instance in Moses,
who is called a mediator in receiving the law, but did therein no
way interpose himself between differing parties, to reconcile them.
Secondly, From tbe 'nature of the mediation of Moses, he would de
scribe the nature of the mediation of Christ; which Socinian fiction
I could direct him to a sufficient confutation of, but that, thirdly, He
rejects it himself in his next words, — that Christ as a mediator was to
die as a sacrifice and propitiation for the sins of the world ; which
renders his mediation utterly of another kind and nature than that
of Moses. The mistake of this discourse is, that he supposeth that
men do argue from 'the general nature of the office of a mediator
the work of mediation in this matter; when that which they do in
tend hence to prove, and what he intends to oppose, is the special
nature of the mediatory office and work of Christ ; which is peculiar,
and hath sundry things essentially belonging unto it, that belong not
unto any other kind of mediation whatever; whereof himself gives
one signal instance.
In his ensuing pages he wonderfully perplexeth himself in gather
ing up sayings, backward and forward in my discourse, to make some
advantage to his purpose, and hopes that he is arrived at no less
success than a discovery of I know not what contradictions in what
I have asserted. As I said before, so I say again, that I refer the
determination and judgment of this whole matter unto any one who
wiU but once read over the discourse excepted against. But for his
part, I greatly pity him, as really supposing him at a loss in the
sense of what is yet plainly delivered ; and I had rather continue to
think so, than to be reUeved by supposing him guilty of such gross
prevarications as he must be if he understands what he treats about.
Plainly, I have showed that there was an especial law of mediation,
which Christ was subject unto, at the commandment of the Father :
that he should be incarnate; that he should be the king, priest, and
prophet of his church ; that he should bear our iniquities, make his
soul an offering for sin, and give his Ufe a ransom for many, were
the principal parts of this law. The whole of it I have lately ex
plained, in my exercitations unto the second part of the Exposition
of the Epistle to the Hebrews; whereon, if he please, he may exercise
and try his skUl in a way of opposition. This law our Lord Jesus
Christ did not yield . obedience to in our stead, as though we had
been obhged originaUy unto the duties of it, which we neither wrere
nor could be ; although what he suffered penally in any of them was
in our stead; without which consideration he could not have right
eously suffered in any kind. And the foUowing trivial exception of
this author, about the obhgation on us to lay down our lives for the

356 A VINDICATION OF
brethren, is meet for him to put in, seeing we are not obliged so to
die for any one as Christ died for us. Was Paul crucified for you?
But, secondly, Christ our mediator, and as mediator, was obliged
unto all that obedience unto the moral, and aU oth«r laws of God,
that the church was obliged unto; and that which I have asserted
hereon is, that the effects of the former obedience of Christ are com
municated unto us, but the latter obedience itself is imputed unto
us; and [I] have proved it by those arguments which this man does
not touch upon. All this is more fully, clearly, and plainly declared
in the discourse itseff; and I have only represented so much of it
here again, that it might be evident unto all how frivolous are his
exceptions. It is therefore to no purpose for me to transcribe again
the quotations out of my book which he filleth up his pages with,
seeing it is but Uttle in them which he excepteth against ; and who
ever pleaseth, may consult them at large in the places from whence
they are taken; or, because it is not easy to find them out singly,
they are so picked up and down, backwards and forwards, curtaUed
and added to at pleasure, any one may, in a very little space of time,
read over the whole unto his fuU satisfaction. I shall, therefore, only
consider his exceptions, and haste unto an end of this fruitless trouble,
wherein I am most unwillingly engaged by this man's unsuspected
disingenuity and ignorance.
After the citation of some passages, he adds, p. 301, " This, me
thinks, is very strange, that what he did as mediator is not imputed
unto us ; but what he did, not as our mediator, but as a man subject
to the law, that is imputed to us, and reckoned as if we had done it,
by reason of his being our mediator. And it is as strange to the full,
that Christ should do whatever was required of us by virtue of any
law, when he was neither husband, nor wife, nor father, merchant nor
tradesman, seaman nor soldier, captain nor Ueutenant, much less a
temporal prince and monarch. And how he should discharge the
duties of these relations for us, which are requfred of us by certain
laws, when he never was in any of these relations, and could not pos
sibly be in all, is an argument which may exercise the subtUty of
schoolmen, and to them I leave it."
It were greatly to be desired that he would be a little more heed
ful, and with attention read the writings of other men, that he might
understand them before he comes to make such a bluster in his op
position to them: for I had told him plainly, that though there
was a peculiar law of mediation, whose acts and duties we had no obU-
gation unto, yet the Lord Christ, even as mediator, was obUged unto,
and did personally perform, aUthe duties of obedience unto the law
of God whereunto we were subject and obliged, p. 181,1 sec. 14. And
1 P. 159 of this volume.

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 357
it is strange to apprehend how he came to imagine that I said he did
it not as our mediator, but as a private man. That which, possibly,
might cast his thoughts into this disorder was, that he knew not that
Christ was made a private man as mediator; which yet the Scripture is
sufficiently, express in. [As] for the following objections, that the Lord
Christ was neither " husband nor wife, father nor tradesman," etc.
(wherein yet possibly he is out in his account), I have frequently smUed
at it when I have met with it in the Socinians, who are perking with
it at every turn; but here it ought to be admired. But yet, without
troubling those bugbears the schoolmen, he may be pleased to take
"notice, that the grace of duty and obedience in all relations is the
same, — the relations administering only an external occasion unto its
pecuUar exercise; and what our Lord Jesus Christ did in the ful
filling of aU righteousness in the circumstances and relations wherein
he stood, may be imputed to us for our righteousness in all our rela
tions, every act of duty and sin in them respecting the same law and
principle. And hereon all his following exceptions for sundry pages,
wherein he seems much to have pleased himself, do fall to nothing,
as being resolved into his, own mistakes, if he doth not prevaricate
against his science and conscience ; for the sum of them aU he gives
us in these words, p. 204, " That Christ did those things as media
tor which did not belong to the laws of his mediation;" which, in
what sense he did so, is fully explained in my discourse. And I am
apt to guess, that either he is deceived or doth design to deceive, in
expressing it by the " laws of his mediation ;" which may comprise all
the laws which as mediator he was subject unto. And so it is most,
true, that he did nothing as mediator but what belonged unto the
laws of his mediation; but most false, that I have* affirmed that he
did : for I did distinguish between that peculiar law which requfred
the public acts of his mediation, and those other laws which, as me
diator, he was made subject unto. And if he neither doth nor will
understand these things when he is told them, and they are proved
unto him beyond what he can contradict, I know no reason why I
should trouble myself with one that contends with his own mormos,
though he never so lewdly or loudly call my name upon them. And
whereas I know myseff sufficiently subject unto mistakes and slips,
so when I actually fall into them, as I shaU not desfre this man's for
giveness, but leave him to exercise the utmost of his severity, so I
despise his ridiculous attempts to represent contradictions in my dis
course, p. 306; aU pretences whereunto are taken from his own igno
rance, or feigned in his imagination. Of the like nature are aU his
ensuing cavils. I desfre no more of any reader, but to peruse the
places in my discourse which he carpeth at, and if he be a person of
ordinary understanding in these things, I declare that I wiU stand to

353 A VINDICATION OF
his censure and judgment, without giving him the least farther inti-'
mation of the sense and intendment of what I have written, or vin
dication of its truth. Thus, whereas I had plamly declared that the
way whereby the Lord Christ, in his own person, became obnoxious
and subject unto the law of creation, was by his own voluntary an
tecedent choice, otherwise than it is with those who are inevitably
subject unto it by natural generation under it; as also, that the hypo-
statical union, in the first instant whereof the human nature was fitted
for glory, might have exempted him from the obUgation of any out
ward law whatever, — whence it appears that his consequential obedi
ence, though necessary to himself, when he had submitted himself
unto the law (as, " Lo, I come to do thy wUl, 0 God"), was de
signedly for us ; — he miserably perplexeth himself to abuse his credu
lous readers with an apprehension that I had talked, Uke himseff, at
such a rate of nonsense as any. one in his wits must needs despise.
The meaning and sum of my discourse he would have to be this,
p. 308, " That Christ had not been bound to live Uke a man, had he
not been a man," with I know not what futilous cavUs of the Uke
nature ; when aU that I insisted on was the reason why Christ would
be a man, and Uve Uke a man ; which was, that we might receive the
benefit and profit of his obedience, as he was our mediator. So in
the close of the same wise harangue, from my saying, " That the
Lord Christ, by virtue of the hypostatical union, might be exempted,
as it were, and lifted above the law, which yet he wUlingly submitted
unto, and in the same instant wherein he was made of a woman^was
made also under the law, whence obedience unto it became necessary
unto him," — the man feigns I know not what contradictions in his '
fancy, whereof there is not the least appearance in the words unto
any one who understands the matter expressed in them. And that
the assumption of the human nature mto union with the Son of God,
with submission unto the law thereon to be performed in that nature,
are distinct parts of the humiliation of Christ, I shall prove when
more serious occasion is administered unto me.
In Uke manner he proceeds to put in his exceptions unto what I
discoursed about the laws that an innocent man is Uable unto. For
I said, that God never gave any other law to an innocent person, but
only the law of his creation, with such symbolical precepts as might
be instances of his obedience thereunto. Something he would find
fault with, but knows not well what; and therefore turmoils himself
to give countenance unto a putid caviL He tells us, " That it is a
great favour that I acknowledge, p. 310, that God might add what
symbols he pleased unto the law of creation." But the chUdishness
of these impertinencies is shameful. To whom, I pray, is it a favour,
or what doth the man intend by such a senseless scoff? Is there any

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 359
word in my whole discourse intimating that God might not in a state
of innocency give what positive laws he pleased unto innocent per
sons, as means and ways to express that obedience which they owed
unto the law of creation ? The task wherein I am engaged is so
fruitless, so barren of any good use, in contending with such imperti
nent effects of malice and ignorance, that I am weary of every word
I am forced to add in the pursuit of it ; but he will yet have it, that
" an innocent person, such as Christ was absolutely, may be obliged
for his own sake to the observation of such laws and institutions as
were introduced by the occasion of sin, and respected aU of them the
personal sins of them that were obliged by them;" which if he can
beUeve, he is at liberty, for me, to persuade as many as he can to be
of his mind, whUst I may be left unto my own liberty and choice,
yea, to the necessity of my mind, in not beUeving contradictions. And
for what, he adds, that I " know those who conceit themselves above
all forms of external worship," I must say to him that at present
personally I know none that do so, but fear that some such there are ;
as also others who, despising not only the ways of external worship
appointed by God himself, but also the laws of internal faith and
grace, do satisfy themselves in a customary observance of forms of
worship of thefr own devising.
In his next attempt he had been singular, and had spoken some
thing which had looked like an answer to an argument, had he well
laid the foundation of his procedure: for that position which he de-
signeth the confutation of is thus laid down by him as mine, " There
can be no reason assigned of Christ's obedience unto the law, but
only this, that he did it in our stead;" whereas my words are, " That
the end of the active obedience of Christ cannot be assigned to be
that he might be fit for his death and oblation." And hereon what
is afterward said agamst this particular end, he interprets as spoken
against all other ends whatever, instancing in such as are every way
consistent with the imputation of his obedience unto us ; which could
not be, had the only end of it been for himself, to fit him for his death
and oblation. And this wilful mistake is sufficient to give occasion
to combat his own imaginations for two or three pages together.
P. 314, he pretends unto the recital of an argument of mine for the
imputation of the righteousness of Christ, with the like pretence of
attempting an answer unto it; but his design is not to manage any
controversy vrith me, or against me, but, as he phraseth it, to expose
„ my mistakes. I cannot, therefore, justly expect from him so much
as common honesty vrill require, in case the real handUng of a con
troversy in religion had been intended. But his way of procedure,
so far as I know and understand, may be best suited unto his design
In this place, he doth neither fairly nor truly report my words, nor

360 A VINDICATION OF
take the least notice of the confirmation of my argument by the
removal of objections whereunto it seemed liable, nor of the reasons
and testimonies whereby it is farther proved ; but, taking out of my
discourse what expressions he pleaseth, putting them together with
the same rule, he thinks he hath sufficiently exposed my mistakes, —
the thing he aimed at. I have no more concernment in this matter
but to refer both him and the reader to the places in my discourse
reflected on ; — him, truly to report and answer my arguments, if he
be able ; and the reader, to judge as he pleaseth between us. And I
would for this once desfre of him, that if he indeed be concerned in
these things, he would peruse my discourse here raved at, and deter
mine in his own mind whether I confidently affirm what is in dispute,
(that is, what I had then in dispute; for who could divine so long
ago what a doughty disputant this author would by this time sprout
up into ?) and that this goes for an argument, or that he impudently
afiirms me so to do, contrary unto his science and conscience, if he
had not quite "pored out his eyes" before he came to the end of a page
or two in my book. And for the state of the question here proposed
by him, let none expect that upon so slight an occasion I shaU divert
unto the discussion of it. When this author, or any of his consorts
in design, shaU soberly and candidly, without scoffing or railing, in a
way of argument or reasoning, becoming divines and men of learning,
answer any of those many writings which are .extant against that
Socinian justification which he here approves and contends for, or
those written by the divines of the church of England on the same
subject, hi the proof of what he denies, and confutation of what he
affirms, they may deserve to be taken notice of in the same rank and
order with those with whom they associate themselves. And yet I
will not say but that these cavilling exceptions, giving a sufficient
intimation of what some men would be at, if ability and opportunity
did occur, may give occasion also unto a renewed vindication of the
truths opposed by them, in a way suited unto the use' and edification
of the church, in due time and season.
From p. 1851 of my book he retires, upon his new triumph, unto
p. 1 76,s as hoping to hook something from thence that might 'contri
bute unto the furtherance of his ingenious design, although my dis
course in that place have no concernment in what he treateth about.
But let him be heard to what purpose he pleaseth. Thus, therefore,
he proceeds, p. 315, "The doctor makes a great flourish with some
Scripture phrases, that there is almost nothing that Christ hath done
but what we are said to do it with him; we are crucified with him,
we are dead with him, buried with him, quickened together with
him. In the actings of Christ there is, by virtue of the compact
1 P. 162. • P. 154 of this volume.

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 361
between him, as mediator, and the Father, such an assured founda
tion laid, that by communication of the fruit of these actings unto
those in whose stead he performed them, they are said, in the parti
cipation of these fruits, to have done the same things with him. But
he is quite out in the reason of these expressions, which is not that
we are accounted to do the same things which Christ did, — for the
things here mentioned belong to the peculiar office of his mediation,
which he told us before were not reckoned as done by us; — but be
cause we do some things like them. Our dying to sin is a conformity
to the death of Christ; and our walking in newness of life is our con
formity to his resurrection : and the consideration of the death and
resurrection of Christ is very powerful to engage us to die to sin,
and to rise unto a new life. And this is the true reason of these
phrases." Any man may perceive, from what he is pleased here himseff to
report of my words, that I was not treating about the imputation of
the righteousness of Christ, which he is now inveighing against; and
it will be much more evident unto every one that shall cast an eye
on that discourse. But the design of this confused rambling I have
been forced now frequently to give an' account of; and shaU, if it be
possible, trouble the reader with it no more. The present difference
between us, which he was ambitious to represent, is only this, that
whereas it seems he wUl allow that those expressions of our being
" crucified with Christ, dead with him, buried with him, quickened
with him," do intend nothing but only our doing of something like
unto that which Christ did; I do add, moreover, that we do "those
things by the virtue and efficacy of the grace which is communicated
unto us from what the Lord Christ so did and acted for us, as the
mediator of the new covenant, whereby alone we partake of thefr
power, communicate in their virtue, and are conformed unto him as
our head ; wherein I know I have, as the testimony of the Scripture,
so the judgment of the cathoUc church of Christ on my side, and
am very little concerned in the censure of this person, that I am
" quite out in the reason of these expressions."
For what remains of his discourse, so far as I am concerned in it,
it is made up of such expositions of some texts of Scripture as issue,
for the most part, in a direct contradiction to the text itself, or some
express passages of the context. So doth that of Gal. iv. 4, 5, which
he first undertakes to speak unto, giving us nothing but what was
first invented by CrelUus, in his book against Grotius, and is almost
translated verbatim out of the comment of Schlichtingius upon the
place ; the remainder of them corruptly Socinianizing against the sense
of the church of God. Hereunto are added such pitiful mistakes,
with reflections on me for distinguishing between obeying and suffer-

362 A VINDICATION OF
ing (which conceit he most profoundly disproves by showing that one
may obey in suffering, and that Christ did so, against him who hath
written more, about the obedience of Christ in dying, or laying down
his life for us, than he seems to have read on the same subject, as
also concerning the ends and uses of his death ; which I challenge
him and aU his companions to answer and disprove, if they can), as I
cannot satisfy myseff in the farther consideration of; no, not with that
speed and haste of writing now used : which nothing could give coun
tenance unto but the meanness of the occasion, and unprofitableness
of the argument in hand Wherefore, this being the manner of the _
man, I am not able to give an account unto myseff or the reader of
the misspense of more time in the review of such impertinencies. I
6haU add a few things, and conclude.
First. I desire to know whether this author will abide by what he
asserts, as his own judgment, in opposition unto what he puts in his
exception against in my discourse : — P. 320, " All the influence which
the sacrifice of Christ's death, and the righteousness of his life have,
that I can find in the Scripture, is, that to this we owe the covenant
of grace;" that is, as he afterward explains himself, " That God would
for the sake of Christ enter into a new covenant with mankind,
wherein he promiseth pardon of sin and eternal Ufe to them that
believe and obey the gospeL" I leave him herein to his second
thoughts; for as he hath now expressed himseff, there is no recon
cUiation of his assertion to common sense, or the fundamental prin
ciples of Christian religion. That God entered into the new covenant
originaUy only for the sake of those things whereby that covenant
was ratified and confirmed, and that Christ was so the mediator of
the new covenant, that he died not for the redemption of transgres
sions under the first covenant, whereby the whole consideration of
his satisfaction and of redemption, properly so called, is excluded;
that there is no consideration to be had of his purchase of the in
heritance of grace and glory, with many other things of the same
importance; and that the gospel, or the doctrine of the gospel, is the
new covenant (which is only a perspicuous declaration of it), are
things that may become these new sons of the church of England,
which the elder church would not have borne withal
Secondly. The reader may take notice, that in some other dis
courses of mine now1 published, which were all of them finished be
fore I had the advantage to peruse the friendly and judicious anim
adversions of this author, he wUl find most of the matters which
1 In the course of the same year in which this reply to Sherlock appeared,
Owen's " Discourse on the Holy Spirit," and the second volume of his "Exposition
of the Epistle to the Hebrews" were published. There is much in both of them
on the points at issue between Owen and Sherlock. — Ed.

THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 363
he excepts against both cleared, proved, and vindicated, and that
those principles which he directs his opposition against are so estab
lished, as that I neither expect nor fear any such assault upon them,
from this sort of men, as becometh a serious debate on things of this
nature. Thirdly. That I have confined myseff, in the consideration of this
author's discourse, unto what I was personally concerned in, without
looking at or accepting of the advantages which offered themselves
of reflecting upon him, either as unto the matter of his discourse, or
unto the manner of expressing himself in its deUvery. For, besides
that I have no mind, and that for many reasons, to enter voluntarily
into any contest with this man, the mistakes which he hath appa
rently been led into by ignorance or prejudice, his fulsome errors
against the Scripture, the doctrine of the ancient church, and the
church of England, are so multiphed and scattered throughout the
whole, that a discovery and confutation of them vrill scarce deserve
the expense of time that must be wasted therein, until a more plau
sible countenance or strenuous defence be given unto them. And
as for what he aimeth at, I know weU enough where to find the
whole of it, handled with more civility and appearance of reason; and
therefore, when I am free, or resolved to treat concerning them, I shaU
do so in the consideration of what is taught by his authors and mas
ters, and not of what he hath borrowed from them.
Fourthly. I shall assure the reader, that as a thousand of such trifling
cavUlers or revilers, as I have had some to deal withal, shall neither
discourage nor hinder me in the remaining service which I may have
yet to fulfil, in the patience of God, for the church of Christ and truth
of the gospel ; nor, it may be, occasion me any more to divert in the
least unto the consideration of what they whisper or clamour, unless
they are able to betake themselves unto a more sober and Christian
way of handling things in controversy: so if they will not, or dare
not, forego this supposed advantage of reproaching the doctrine of non
conformists (under which pretence they openly, and as yet securely,
scorn and deride them, when they are aU of them the avowed doc
trines of all the reformed churches, and of this of England in par
ticular) ; and if they think it not meet to oppose themselves and
endeavours unto those writings which have been composed and pub
Ushed professedly in the declaration and defence of the truth scoffed
at and impugned by them, but choose rather to exercise thefr skiU
and anger on passages rent out of practical discourses, accommodated
in the manner of thefr deUvery unto the capacity of the community of
believers, as it is fit they should be; I do suppose that, at one time
or other, from one hand or another, they may meet with some such
discourse, concerning justification and the imputation of the rights-

364 A VINDICATION, ETC.
ousness of Christ, as may give them occasion to be quiet, or to exercise
the best of thefr skUl and industry in an opposition unto it, — as many
such there are already extant, which they wisely take no notice of,
but only rave against occasional passages in discourses of another
nature, — unless they resolve on no occasion to forego the shelter they
have betaken themselves unto.

A BRIEF

DECLAEATION AND VINDICATION

THE DOCTRINE OP THE TRINITY:

THE PERSON AND SATISFACTION OF CHRIST:

ACOOKUODATBD TO THE CAPACITY AND USE OF SUCH AS MAY BE IN DANGER TO BE SEDUCED;
AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TRUTH.

" Search the Scrlptum."— Xokh t. 39.

\
Fa. 3, 1668-0.

Imprimatur, Rob. Grove, E. P. D
Episcop. Lond. a Sac. Dom.

PREFATORY NOTE.

Few of Owen's treatises have been more extensively circulated and generally
useful than his "Brief Declaration and Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity,"
etc. It was published in 1669; and the author of the anonymous memoir of
Owen, prefixed to an edition of his Sermons in 1720, informs us, "This small
piece hath met with such an universal acceptance by true Christians of all deno
minations, that the seventh edition of it was lately published." An edition printed
in Glasgow was published in 1798, and professes to be the eighth. A translation
of the work appeared in the Dutch language (Vitringa, Doct. Christ., pars vi.
p. 6, edit. 1776).
At the time when the treatise was published, the momentous doctrines of the
Trinity and the Atonement were violently assailed; but it was not so much for
the refutation of opponents as for " the edification and establishment of the plain
Christian," that our author composed the following little work. The reader will
find in it traces of that deep and familiar acquaintance with opposing views, and
with the highest theology involved in the question, which might be expected from
Dr Owen on a subject which he seems to have studied with peculiar industry and
research. Reference may be made to, his " Vindicise Evangelicse," and his
" Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews," in proof how thoroughly he had
mastered the whole controversy in regard to the divinity and satisfaction of
Christ, so far as the discussion had extended in hi3 day. His controversy with
Biddle, in which he wrote his "Vindicise Evangelicae," took place in 1655; and
the first volume of the "Exposition" was published only the year before the
" Brief Declaration," etc., appeared. The latter may be regarded, accordingly,
as the substance of these important works, condensed and adapted to popular
use and comprehension, in all that relates to the proper Godhead of the Son, and
the nature of the work which he accomplished in the redemption of his people.
Notes have been supplied, in the course of the treatise, explanatory of some
allusions to various writers, whose names are now almost unknown, and in one or
two instances, we have briefly indicated to what extent passages quoted by Owen
have been affected by the results and discoveries of modern criticism. For the
special object which he had in view, he adopts the course which has since been
generally approved of and pursued, as obviously the wisest and safest in defending
and expounding the doctrine of the Trinity. He appeals to the broad mass of
Scripture evidence in favour of the doctrine, and after proving the divine unity,
together with the divinity of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost respectively, is careful
not to enter on any discussion in regard to the uurevealed mysteries involved in
the relations of the Trinity, beyond what was necessaiy for the refutation of those
who argue, that whatever in this high doctrine is incomprehensible by reason, must
be incompatible with revelation. This little work is farther remarkable for the
almost total absence of the tedious digressions, which abound in the other works
of Owen. Such logical unity and concentration of thought is the more remark
able, when we find that the treatise was written, as he tells us, " in a few hours."-
But it was a subject on which his mind was fully stored, and his whole heart was
interested. The treatise which follows, therefore, was not the spark struck in
some moment of collision, and serving only a temporary purpose, but a steady
flame nourished from the beaten oil of the sanctuary. — Ed.

TO THE READER.

Christian Reader,
This small treatise hath no other design hat thy good, and establishment in the
truth. And therefore, as laying aside that consideration alone, I could desirously
have been excused from the labour of those hours which were spent in its com
posure ; so in the work itself I admitted no one thought, but how the things treated
of in it might and ought to be managed unto thy spiritual benefit and advantage.
Other designs most men have in writing what is to be exposed to public view, and
lawfully may have so ; in this I have nothing but merely thy good. I have neither
been particularly provoked nor opposed by the adversaries of the truth here pleaded
for, nor have any need, from any self-respect, to publish such a small, plain discourse
as this. Love alone to the truth, and the welfare of thy soul, has given efficacy
to their importunity who pressed me to this small service.
The matters here treated of are on all hands confessed to be of the greatest
moment, such as the eternal welfare of the souls of men is immediately and directly
concerned in. This all those who beUeve the sacred truths here proposed and
explained do unanimously profess and contend for; nor is it denied by those b)
whom they are opposed. There is no need, therefore, to give thee any especial
reasons to evince thy concernment in these things, nor the greatness of that con-
cernnient, thereby to induce thee unto their serious consideration. It were weU,
indeed, that these great, sacred, and mysterious truths might, without contention
or controversies about them, be left unto the faith of beUevers, as proposed in the
Scripture, with that explanation of them which, in the ordinary ministry and dis
pensation of the gospel, is necessary and required.
Certainly, these tremendous mysteries are not by us willingly to be exposed, or
prostituted to the cavils of every perverse querist and disputer ; — those o-vZumrx) rm
xlutos roirov, whose pretended wisdom (indeed ignorance, darkness, and folly) God
hath designed to confound and destroy in them and Dy them. For my part, I can
assure thee, reader, I have no mind to contend and dispute about these things,
which I humbly adore and beUeve as they are revealed. It is the importunity of
adversaries, in their attempts to draw and seduce the souls of men from the truth
and simpUcity of the gospel in these great fundamentals of it, that alone can justify
any to debate upon, or eristically [in the form of controversy] to handle these awful
mysteries. This renders it our duty, and that indispensably, inasmuch as we are
required to " contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints." But
yet, also, when this necessity is imposed on us, we are by no means discharged frcm
that humble reverence of mind wherewith we ought always to be conversant about
them ; nor from that regard unto the way and manner of their revelation in the
Scripture which may preserve us from aU unnecessary intermixture of Utigious or
exotic phrases and expressions in their assertion and declaration. I know our
adversaries could, upon the matter, decry any thing pecuharly mysterious in these
things, although they are frequently and emphatically in the Scriptures affirmed
to to be. But, whilst they deny the mysteries of the things themselves, — wliich are

368 TO THE READER.
such as every way become the glorious being and wisdom of God, — they are forced
to assign such an enigmatical sense unto the words, expressions, and propositions
wherein they are revealed and declared in the Scripture, as to turn almost the
whole gospel into an allegory, wherein nothing is properly expressed but in some
kind of allusion unto what is so elsewhere: which irrational way of proceeding,
leaving nothing certain in what is or may be expressed by word or writing, is
covered over with a pretence ot right reason; which utterly refuseth to be so em
ployed. These things the reader will find afterward made manifest, so far as the
nature of this brief discourse wiU bear. And I shall only desire these few things
of him that intends its perusal :— First, That he would not look on the subject here
treated of as the matter of an ordinary controversy in reUgion, —
 " Neque enim hic levia aut ludicra petuntur
Praemia ; lectoris de vita animaeque salute
Certatur.*'1
They are things which immediately and directly in themselves concern the eternal
salvation of the souls of men ; and their consideration ought always to be attended
with a due sense of their weight and importance. Secondly, Let him bring with
him a due reverence of the majesty, and infinite, incomprehensible nature of God,
as that which is not to be prostituted to the captious and sophistical scanning of
men of corrupt minds, but to be humbly adored, according to the revelation that
he hath made of himself. Thirdly, That he be wilUng to submit his soul and
conscience to the plain and obvious sense of Scripture propositions and testimonies,
without seeking out evasions and pretences for unbeUef. These requests I cannot
but judge equal, and fear not the success where they are sincerely complied withal.
I have only to add, that in handUng the doctrine of the satisfaction of Christ, I
have proceeded on that principle which, as it is fuUy. confirmed in the Scripture,
so it hath been constantly maintained and adhered unto by the most of those who
with judgment and success have managed these controversies against the Socinians:
and this is, that the essential holiness of God, with his justice or righteousness,
as the supreme governor of aU, did indispensably require that sin should not abso
lutely go unpunished ; and that it should do so, stands in a repugnancy to those
holy properties of his nature. This, I say, hath been always constantly maintained
by far the greatest number of them who have thoroughly understood the contra-
versy in this matter, and have successfully engaged in it. And as their arguments
for their assertion are plainly unanswerable, so the neglect of abiding by it is cause
lessly to forego one of the most fundamental and invincible principles in our cause.
He who first laboured in the defence of the doctrine of the satisfaction of Christ,
after Socinus had formed his imaginations about the salvation that he wrought, and
began to dispute about it, was Covetus,8 a learned man, who laid the foundation of
his whole disputation in the justice of God, necessarily requiring, and indispensably,
the punishment of sin. And, indeed, the state of the controversy as it is laid down
by Socinus, in his book " De Jesu Christo Servatore," which is an answer to this
Covetus, is genuine, and that which ought not to be receded from, as having been
the direct ground of all the controversial writings on that subject which have since
been pubUshed in Europe. And it is in these words laid down by Socinus himself:
*  " Nee enim levia aut ludicra petuntur
Frjcmia, sed Turni de vita et sanguine certant." — Vir?. ;F.n. xii. 764.
9 The only notice of this divine we can discover will be found in the Uibliotheca of Konigius
(1678). All the information he communicates respecting him is in thesu words : — " Covetus
(Jacobus) Farisiensis Theologus. An. 1608 obiit. Reliquit Apologiam de Justificatione." So-
cinus, in a curious preface to his work, mentioned above, *'De Jesu Christo Servatore," narrates in
what manner Covetus and he first happened to meet. They subsequently exchanged communi.
cations on the points in dispute between them. It was in reply to the arguments of Covetus in
' this correspondence, that Socinus wrote the work to which Dr Owen alludes. It is matter of re
gret that so little is known of one whom Owen mentions so respectfully, aud who had the honour
of supplying the first antidote and check to the heresies of Socinus  Ed.

TO THE READER. 369
" Communis et orthodoxa (ut asseris) sententia est, Jesum Christum ideo serva-
torem nostrum esse, quia divinae justitiae per quam peccatores damnari merebamur,
pro peccatis nostris plene satisfecerit ; quae satisfactio, per fidem, imputatur nobis
ex dono Dei credentibus." This he ascribes to Covetus: " The common and
orthodox judgment is, that Jesus Christ is therefore our Saviour, because he hath
satisfied the justice of God, by which we, being sinners, deserved to be condemned
for all our sins" [which satisfaction, through faith, is imputed to us who through
the grace of God beUeve.] In opposition whereunto he thus expresseth his own
opinion: " Ego vero censeo, et orthodoxam sententiam esse arbitror, Jesum Chris
tum ideo servatorem nostrum esse, quia salutis aeternae viam nobis annuntia-
verit, confirmaverit, et in sua ipsius persona, cum vitae exemplo, turn ex mortuis
resurgendo, manifeste ostenderit; vitamque seternam nobis ei fidem habentibus ipse
daturus sit. Divinae autem justitiae, per quam peccatores damnari meremur, pro-
peccatis nostris neque iUum satisfecisse, neque ut satisfaceret, opus fuisse arbitror ;" —
" I judge and suppose it to be the orthodox opinion, that Jesus Christ is therefore
our Saviour, because he hath declared unto us the way of eternal salvation, and
confirmed it in his own person ; manifestly showing it, both by the example of his
life and by rising from the dead ; and in that he will give eternal Ufe unto us,
beUeving in him. And I affirm, that he neither made satisfaction to the justice of
God, whereby we deserved to be damned for our sins, nor was there any need that
he should so do." This is the true state of the question; and the principal subtlety
of Crellius, the great defender of this part of the doctrine of Socinus, jn his book
of the " Causes of the Death of Christ," and the defence of this book, " De Jesu
Christo Servatore," consists in speaking almost the same words with those whom
he doth oppose, but still intending the same things with Socinus himself. This
opinion, as was said of Socinus, Covetus opposed and everted on the principle
before mentioned.
The same truth was confirmed also by Zarnovitius, who first wrote against
Socinus' book ; as also by Otto Casmannus, who engaged in the same work ; and
by Abraham Salinarius. Upon the same foundation do proceed Paraeus, Piscator,
Lubbertus, Lucius, Camero, Voetius, Amyraldus, Placaeus, Rivetus, Walaeus,
Thysius, Altingius, Maresius, Essenius, Arnoldus, Turretinus, Baxter, with many
others. The Lutherans who halve managed these controversies, as Tarnovius,
Meisnerus, Calovius, Stegmannus, Martinius, Franzius, with all others of their
way, have constantly maintained the same great fundamental principle of this
doctrine of the satisfaction of Christ ; and it hath well and solidly been of late
asserted among ourselves on the same foundation. And as many of these authors
do expressly blame some of the schoolmen, as Aquinas, Durandus, Biel, Tataretus,
for granting a possibiUty of pardon without satisfaction, as opening a way to the
Socinian error in this matter ; so also they fear not to affirm, that the foregoing
of this principle of God's vindictive justice indispensably requiring the punishment
of sin, doth not only weaken the cause of the truth, but indeed leave it indefensible.
However, I suppose men ought to be wary how they censure the authors men
tioned, as such who expose the cause they undertook to defend unto contempt;
for greater, more able, and learned defenders, this truth hath not as yet found,
nor doth stand in need of.
J. 0.

vol. n.

THE PREFACE.

The disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ having made that great confession of him,
in distinction and opposition unto them who accounted him only as a prophet,
" Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," Matt. xvi. 14, 16, he doth, on
the occasion thereof, give out unto them that great charterof the church's stabiUty
and continuance, " Upon this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it," verse 18. He is himself the rock upon which his
church is built, — as God is called the rock of his people, on the account of his
eternal power and immutabiUty, Deut. xxxii. 4, 18, 31, Isa. xxvi. 4; and himself
the spiritual rock which gave out suppUes of mercy and assistance to the people in
the wilderness, 1 Cor. x. 4.
The relation of the professing church unto this rock consists in the faith of this
confession, that he is " the Christ, the Son of the Uving God." This our Lord
Jesus Christ hath promised to secure against aU attempts ; yet so as plainly to
declare, that there should be great and severe opposition made thereunto. For
whereas the prevalency of the gates of hell in an enmity unto this confession is
denied, a great and vigorous attempt to prevail therein is no less certainly foretold.
Neither hath it otherwise fallen out. In all ages, from the first solemn foundation
of the church of the New Testament, it hath, one way or other, been fiercely
attempted by the " gates of hell." For some time after the resurrection of Christ
from the dead, the principal endeavours of Satan, and men acting under him, or
acted by him, were pointed against the very foundation of the church, as laid in
the expression before mentioned. Almost all the errors and heresies wherewith
for three or four centuries of years it was perplexed, were principally against the
person of Christ himself; and, consequently, the nature and being of the holy and
blessed Trinity. But being disappointed in his design herein, through the watch
ful care of the Lord Christ over his promise, in the following ages Satan turned
his craft and violence against sundry parts of the superstructure, and, by the
assistance of the Papacy, cast them into confusion, — nothing, as it were, remain
ing firm, stable, and in order, but only this one confession, which in a particular
manner the Lord Christ hath taken upon himself to secure.
In these latter ages of the world, the power and care of Jesus Christ reviving
towards his church, in the reformation of it, even the ruined heaps of its building
have been again reduced into some tolerable order and beauty. The old enemy
of its peace and welfare falUng hereby under a disappointment, and finding his
travail and labour for many generations in a great part frustrate, he is returned
again to his old work of attacking the foundation itself; as he is unweary and
restless, and can be quiet neither conqueror nor conquered, — nor will be so, until
he is bound and cast into the lake that burneth with fire. For no sooner had the-
reformation of reUgion firmed itself in some of the European provinces, but imme
diately, in a proportion of distance not unanswerable unto what feU out from the
first foundation of the church, sundry persons, by the instigation of Satan, at-

372 THE PREFACE.
tempted the disturbance and ruin of it, by the very same errors and heresies* about
the Trinity, the person of Christ and his offices, the person of the Holy Ghost and
his grace, wherewith its first trouble and ruin was endeavoured. And hereof we
have of late an instance given among ourselves, and that so notoriously known,
through a mixture of imprudence and impudence in the managers of it, that a very
brief reflection upon it wiU suffice unto our present design.
It was always supposed, and known to some, that there are sundry persons in
this nation, who, having been themselves seduced into Socinianism, did make it
their business, under various pretences, to draw others into a compUance with them
in the same way and persuasion. Neither hath this, for sundry years, been so
secretly carried, but that the design of it hath variously discovered itself by overt
acts of conferences, disputations, and pubUshing of books; which last way of late
hath been sedulously pursued. Unto these three is now a visible accession made,
by that sort of people whom men will call Quakers, from their deportment at the
first erection of their way (long since deserted by them), until, by some new revolu
tions of opinions, they cast themselves under a more proper denomination. That
there is a conjunction issued between both these sorts of men, in an opposition to
the holy Trinity, with the person and grace of Christ, the pamphlets of late pub
lished by the one and the other do sufficiently evince. For however . they may
seem in sundry things as yet to look diverse ways, yet, like Samson's foxes, they are
knit together by the tail of consent in these fire-brand opinions, and jointly endea
vour to consume the standing corn of the church of God. And their joint manage
ment of their business of late hath been as though it were their design to give as
great a vogue and report to their opinions as by any ways they are able. Hence,
besides their attempts to be proclaiming their opinions, under various pretences,
in all assemblies whereinto they may intrude themselves (as they know) without
trouble, they are exceeding sedulous in scattering and giving away, yea, imposing
gratis (and, as to some, ingratiis), their small books which they pubUsh, upon all
sorts of persons promiscuously, as they have advantage so to do. By this means
their opinions being of late become the talk and discourse of the common sort of
Christians, and the exercise of many, — amongst whom are not a few that, on sundry
accounts, which I shall not mention, may possibly be exposed unto disadvantage
and prejudice thereby, — it hath been thought meet by some that the sacred truths
which these men oppose should be plainly and briefly asserted and confirmed from
the Scripture ; that those of the meanest sort of professors, who are sincere and
upright, exercising themselves to keep a good conscience in matters of faith and
obedience to God, may have somewhat in a readiness, both to guide them in their
farther inquiry into the truth, as also to confirm their faith in what they have
already received, when at any time it is shaken or opposed by the "cunning
sleight of men that Ue in wait to deceive."
And this compriseth the design of the ensuing discourse. It may possibly be
judged needless by some, as it was in its first proposal by him by whom it is
written ; and that because this matter at present is, by an especial providence, cast
on other hands, who both have, and doubtless, as occasion shall require, will well
acquit themselves in the defence of the truths opposed. Not to give any other
account of the reasons of this small undertaking, it may suffice, that " in publico
discrimine omnis homo miles est," — " every man's concernment lying in a common
danger,"— it is free for every one to manage it as he thinks best, and is able, so it
be without prejudice to the whole or the particular concerns of others. If a city
be on fire, whose bucket that brings water to quench it ought to be refused? The
attempt to cast fire into the city of God by the opinions mentioned, is open and
plain; and a timely stop being to be put unto it, the more hands that are orderly
employed in its quenching, the more speedy and secure is the effect Uke to be.

THE PREFACE. 373
Now, because the assertors of the opinions mentioned do seem to set out them
selves' to be some great ones, above the ordinary rate of men, as having found
out, and being able pubUcly to maintain, such things as never would have entered
into the minds of others to have thought on or conceived ; and also that they
seem with many to be thought worthy of their consideration because they now are
new, and such as they have not been acquainted withal ; I shall, in this prefatory
entrance, briefly manifest that those who have amongst us undertaken the manage
ment of these opinions have brought nothing new unto them, but either a Uttle
contemptible sophistry and caption of words, on the one hand, or futilous, affected,
unintelligible expressions, on the other, — the opinions themselves being no other
but such as the church of God, having been opposed by and troubled with from
the beginning, hath prevailed against and triumphed over in all generations. And
were it not that confidence is the only reUef which enraged impotency adheres
unto and expects supplies from, I should greatly admire that those amongst us
who have undertaken an enforcement of these old exploded errors, whose weak
ness doth so openly discover and proclaim itself in all their endeavours, should
judge themselves competent to give a new spirit of Ufe to the dead carcase of these
rotten heresies, which the faith of the saints in aU ages hath triumphed over, and
which truth and learning have, under the care and watchfulness of Christ, so often
baffled out of the world.
The Jews, in the time of our Saviour's converse on the earth, being fallen
greatly from the faith and worship of their forefathers, and ready to sink into
their last and utmost apostasy from God, seem, amongst many other truths, to
have much lost that of the doctrine of the holy Trinity, and of the person of the
Messiah. It was,. indeed, suited, in the dispensation of God, unto the work that
the Lord Jesus had to fulfil in the world, that, before his passion and resurrection,
the knowledge of his divine nature, as unto his individual person, should be con
cealed from the most of men. For this cause, although he was " in the form of
God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, yet he made himself of no
reputation, by taking on him the form of a servant, and being made in the Uke
ness of men, that being found in the fashion of a man, he might be obedient unto
death," Phil. ii. 6-8; whereby his divine glory was vailed for a season, until
he was " declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of
hoUness, by the resurrection from the dead," Rom. i. 4; and then " was glorified
with that glory which he had with the Father before the world was," John xvn. 5.
And as this dispensation was needful unto the accompUshment of the whole work
which, as our mediator, he had undertaken, so, in particular, he who was in himself
the Lord of hosts, a sanctuary to them that feared him, became hereby " a stone
of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for
a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem," Isa. viii. 13, 14. See Luke ii. 34 ; Rom.
ix. 33 ; 1 Pet. ii. 8 ; Isa. xxviii. 16. But yet, notwithstanding, as occasions re
quired, suitably unto his own holy ends and designs, he forbare not to give plain
and open testimony to his own divine nature and eternal pre-existence unto his
incarnation. And this was it which, of aU other things, most provoked the carnal
Jews with whom he had to do ; for having, as was said, lost the doctrine of the
Trinity and person of the Messiah, in a great measure, whenever he asserted
his Deity, they were immediately enraged, and endeavoured to destroy him. So
was it, plainly, John viii. 56-59. Saith he, " Your father Abraham rejoiced to see
my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art
not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up
stones to cast at him." So, also, John x. 30-33, " I and my Father are one. Then
(he Jews took up stones again to stone hin> Tesus answered them, Many good

374 THE PREFACE.
works have I showed you from my Father ; for which of those works do ye stone
me ? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not ; but
for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." They
understood well enough the meaning of those words, " I and my Father are one,"
— namely, that they were a plain assertion of his being God. This caused their
rage. And this the Jews all abide by to this day, — namely, that he declared him
self to be God, and therefore they slew him. Whereas, therefore, the first discovery
of a pluraUty of persons in the divine essence consists in the revelation of the divine
nature and personaUty of the Son, this being opposed, persecuted, and blasphemed
by these Jews, they may be justly looked upon and esteemed as the first assertors
of that misbelief which now some seek again so earnestly to promote. The Jews
persecuted the Lord Christ, because he, being a man, declared himself also to be
God ; and others are ready to revUe and reproach them who beUeve and teach
what he declared.
After the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus, aU things being filled
with tokens, evidences, and effects of his divine nature and power (Rom. i. 4), the
church that began to be gathered in his name, and according to his doctrine, being,
by his especial institution, to be initiated into the express profession of the doc
trine of the holy Trinity, as being to be baptized in the name of the Father, and
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, — which confession compriseth the whole of the truth
contended for, and by the indispensable placing of it at the first entrance into all
obedience unto him, is made the doctrinal foundation of the church, — it continued
for a season in the quiet and undisturbed possession of this sacred treasure.
The first who gave disquietment unto the disciples of Christ, by perverting the
doctrine of the Trinity, was Simon Magus, with his followers ; — an account of
whose monstrous figments and unintelligible imaginations, with their coincidence
with what some men dream in these latter days, shall elsewhere be given. Nor
shaU I need here to mention the coUuvies of Gnostics, Valentinians, Marciopites,
and Manichees; the foundation of all whose abominations lay in their misappre
hensions of the being of God, their unbeUef of the Trinity and person of Christ, as
do those of some others also.
In especial, there was one Cerinthus, who was more active than others in his
opposition to the doctrine of the person of Christ, and therein of the holy Trinity.
To put a stop unto his abominations, all authors agree that John, writing his
Gospel, prefixed unto it that plain declaration of the eternal Deity of Christ which
it is prefaced withal. And the story is weU attested by Irenasus, Eusebius, and
others, from Polycarpus, who was his disciple, that this Cerinthus coming into
the place where the apostle was, he left it, adding, as a reason of his departure,
lest the building, through the just judgment of God, should faU upon them. And
it was of the holy, wise providence of God to suffer some impious persons to oppose
this doctrine before the death of that apostle, that he might, by infallible inspira
tion, farther reveal, manifest, and declare it, to the establishment of the church in
future ages. For what can farther be desired to satisfy the minds of men who in
any sense own the Lord Jesus Christ and the Scriptures, than that this contro
versy about the Trinity and person of Christ (for they stand and fall together)
should be so eminently and expressly determined, as it were, immediately from
heaven? But he with whom we have to deal in this matter neither ever did, nor ever will,
nor can, acquiesce or rest in the divine determination of any thing which he hath
stirred up strife and controversy about: for as Cerinthus and the Ebionites per
sisted in the heresy of the Jews, who would have slain our Saviour for bearing
witness to his own Deity, notwithstanding the evidence of that testimony, and the
right apprehension which the Jews had of his mind therein; so he excited others

THE PREFACE 375
to engage and persist in their opposition to the truth, notwithstanding this second
particular determination of it from heaven, for their confutation or confusion. For
after the more weak and confused oppositions made unto it by Theodotus Coriarius
[i.e.,the tanner], Artemon, and some others, at lengthastout champion appears visibly
and expressly engaged against these fundamentals of our faith. This was Paulus
Samosatenus, bishop of the church of Antioch; about the year 272 ; — a man ot
most i intolerable pride, passion, and foUy, — the greatest that hath left a name upon
ecclesiastical records. This man openly and avowedly denied the doctrine of the
Trinity, and the Deity of Christ in an especial manner. For although he endea
voured for a while to cloud his impious sentiments in ambiguous expressions, as
others also have done (Euseb., lib. vii. cap. 27), yet being pressed by the professors
of the truth, and supposing his party was somewhat confirmed, he plainly defended
his heresy, and was cast out of the church wherein he presided. Some sixty years
after, Photinus, bishop of Sirmium, with a pretence of more sobriety in life and
conversation, undertook the management of the same design, with the same suc
cess. What ensued afterward among the churches of God in this matter is of too
large and diffused a nature to be here reported. These instances I have fixed on
only to intimate, unto persons whose condition or occasions afford them not abiUty
or leisure of themselves to inquire into the memorials of times past amongst the
professors of the gospel of Christ, that these oppositions which are made at present
amongst us unto these fundamental truths, and derived immediately from the late
renewed enforcement of them made by Faustus Socinus and his followers, are
nothing but old baffled attempts of Satan against the rock of the church and the
building thereon, in the confession of the Son of the Uving God.
Now, as all men who have aught of a due reverence of God or his truth re
maining with them, cannot but be wary how they give the least admittance to such
opinions as have from the beginning been witnessed against and condemned by
Christ himself, his apostles, and all that foUowed them in their faith and ways in
all generations ; so others, whose hearts may tremble for the danger they appre
hend which these sacred truths may be in of being corrupted or defamed by the
present opposition against them, may know that it is no other but what the church
and faith of professors hath already been exercised with, and, through the power
of Him that enables them, have constantly triumphed over. And, for my part, I
look upon it as a blessed effect of the holy, wise providence of God, that those who
have long harboured these abominations of denying the holy Trinity, and the person
and satisfaction of Christ, in their minds, but yet have sheltered themselves from
common observation under the shades of dark, obscure, and uncouth expressions,
with many other specious pretences, should be given up to join themselves with
such persons (and to profess a community of persuasion with them in those opi
nions, as have rendered themselves infamous from the first foundation of Chris
tianity), and wherein they wiU assuredly meet with the same success as those have
done who have gone before them.
For the other head of opposition, made by these persons unto the truth in refer
ence unto the satisfaction of Christ, and the imputation of his righteousness thereon
unto our justification, I have not much to say as to the time past. In general, the
doctrine wherein they boast, being first brought forth in a rude misshapen manner
1-y the Pelagian heretics, was afterward improved by one Abelardus, a sophistical
scholar in France; but owes its principal form and poison untp the endeavours of
Faustus Socinus, and those who have followed him in his subtle attempt to cor
rupt the whole doctrine of the gospel. Of these men are those amongst us who
at this day so busUy dispute and write about the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, and
his satisfaction, — the followers and disciples. And it is much more from their mas-

S76 THE PREFACE
ters. who were sWire of them men learned, diligent, and subtle, than from them
selves, that they are judged to be of any great consideration. For I can truly say,
that, upon the sedate examination of .all that I could ever yet hear or get a sight
of. either spoken or written by them, — that is, any amongst us, — I never yet ob
served an undertaking of so great importance managed with a greater evidence
of incompetency and inabiUty, to give any tolerable countenance unto' it. If
any of them shaU for the future attempt to give any new countenance or props
to their tottering errors, it wiU doubtless be attended unto by some of those many
who cannot but know that it is incumbent on them " to contend earnestly for the
faith once deUvered unto the saints." This present brief endeavour is only to
assist and direct those who are less exercised in-the ways of managing controver
sies in religion, that they may have a brief comprehension of the truths opposed,
with the firm foundations whereon they are built, and be in a readiness to shield
their faith both against the fiery darts of Satan, and secure their minds against
the " cunning sleight of men, who Ue in wait to deceive." And wherein this dis
course seems in any thing to be too brief or concise, the author is not to be blamed
who was confined unto these strait bounds by those whose requests enjoined him
this service.

THE

DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY
EXPLAINED AND VINDICATED.

The doctrine of the blessed Trinity may be considered two ways:
First, In respect unto the revelation and proposal of it in the Scrip
ture, to direct us unto the author, object, and end of our faith, in
our worship and obedience. Secondly, As it is farther declared and
explained, in terms, expressions, and propositions, reduced from the
origmal revelation of it, suited thereunto, and meet to direct and
keep the mind from undue apprehensions of the things it believes,
and to declare them, unto farther edification.
In the first way, it consists merely in the propositions wherein
the revelation of God is expressed in the Scripture; and in this
regard two things are required of us. First, To understand the
terms of the propositions, as they are enunciations of truth; and,
Secondly, To believe the things taught, revealed, and declared in
them. In the first instance, no more, I say, is required of us, but that we
assent unto the assertions and testimonies of God concerning himself,
according to their natural and genuine sense, as he will be known,
believed in, feared, and worshipped by us, as he is our Creator,
Lord, and Rewarder; and that because he himself hath, by his re
velation, not only warranted us so to do, but also made it our duty,
necessary and indispensable. Now, the sum of this revelation in this
matter is, that God is one; — that this one God is Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost; — that the Father is the Father of the Son; and the
Son, the Son of the Father; and the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the
Father and the Son; and that, in respect of this their mutual rela
tion, they are distinct from each other.
This is the substance of the doctrine of the Trinity, as to the first
direct concernment of faith therein. The first intention of the Scrip-

378 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
ture, in the revelation of God towards us, is, as was said, that we
might fear him, believe, worship, obey him, and live unto him, as
God. That we may do this in a due manner, and worship the only
true God, and not adore the false imaginations of our own minds, it
declares, as was said, that this God is one, the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost; — that the Father is this one God; and therefore is to
be believed in, worshipped, obeyed, lived unto, and in all things con
sidered by us as the first cause, sovereign Lord, and last end of all ; — :
that the Son is the one true God; and therefore is to be believed in,
worshipped, obeyed, lived unto, and in all things considered by us as
the first cause, sovereign Lord, and last end of all; — and so, also, of
the Holy Ghost. This is the whole of faith's concernment in this
matter, as it respects the direct revelation of God made by himself
in the Scripture, and the first proper general end thereof. Let this
be clearly confirmed by direct and positive divine testimonies, con
taining the declaration and revelation ,of God concerning himself, and
faith is secured as to all it concerns; for it hath both its proper for
mal object, and is sufficiently enabled to be directive of divine wor
ship and obedience.
The explication of this doctrine unto edification, suitable unto the
revelation mentioned, is of another consideration; and two things are
incumbent on us to take care of therein : — First, That what is affirmed
and taught do directly tend unto the ends of the, revelation itself, by
informing and enlightening of the mind in the knowledge of the
mystery of it, so far as in this life we are, by divine assistance,
capable to comprehend it; that is, that faith may be increased,
strengthened, and confirmed against temptations and oppositions of
Satan, and men of corrupt minds; and that we may be distinctly
directed unto, and encouraged in, the obedience unto, and worship of
God, that are required of us. Secondly, That nothing be affirmed or
taught herein that may beget or occasion any undue apprehensions
concerning God, or our obedience unto him, with respect unto the
best, highest, securest revelations that we have of him and our duty.
These things being done and secured, the end of the declaration of
this doctrine concerning God is attained.
In the declaration, then, of this doptrine unto the edification of the
church, there is contained a farther explanation of the things before
asserted, as. proposed directly and in themselves as the object of our
faith, — namely, how God is one, in respect of his nature, substance,
essence, Godhead, or divine being; how, being Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, he subsisteth in these three distinct persons or hypos
tases; and what are their mutual respects to each other, by which,
as their peculiar properties, giving them the manner of their subsis
tence, they are distinguished one from another; with sundry other

TRINITY VINDICATED. 379
things of the like necessary consequence unto the revelation men
tioned. And herein, as in the appUcation of all other divine truths
and mysteries whatever, yea, of all moral commanded duties, use
is to be made of such words and expressions as, it may be, are not
literally and formally contained in the Scripture ; but only are, unto
our conceptions and apprehensions, expository of what is so con
tained. And to deny the liberty, yea, the necessity hereof, is to
deny all' interpretation of the Scripture, — all endeavours to express
the sense of the words of it unto the understandings of one another ;
which is, in a word, to render the Scripture itself altogether useless.
For if it be unlawful for me to speak or write what I conceive to
be the sense of the words of the Scripture, and the nature of the
thing signified and expressed by them, it is unlawful for me, also, to
think or conceive in my mind what is the sense of the words or
nature of the things ; which to say, is to make brutes of ourselves, and
to frustrate the whole design of God in giving unto us the great privi
lege of his word.
Wherefore, in the declaration of the doctrine of the Trinity, we
may lawfully, nay, we must necessarily, make use of other words,
phrases, and expressions, than what are literally and syllabically con
tained in the Scripture, but teach no other things.
Moreover; whatever is so revealed in the Scripture is no less true
and divine as to whatever necessarily followeth thereon, than it is as
unto that which is principally revealed and directly expressed. For
how far soever the lines be drawn and extended, from truth nothing
can follow and ensue but whafris true also; and that in the same
kind of truth with that which it is derived and deduced from. For
if the principal assertion be a truth of divine revelation, so is also
whatever is included therein, and which may be rightly from thence
collected. Hence it follows, that when the Scripture revealeth the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to be one God, seeing it necessarily
and unavoidably follows thereon that they are one in essence (wherein
alone it -is possible they can be one), and three in their distinct sub
sistences (wherein alone it is possible they can be three), — this is no
less of divine revelation than the first principle from whence these
things follow.
These being the respects which the doctrine of the Trinity falls
under, the necessary method of faith and reason, in the believing and
declaring of it, is plain and evident: —
First. The revelation of it is to be asserted and vindicated, as it
is proposed to be believed, for the ends mentioned. Now, this is, as
was declared, that there is one God; that this God is Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost; and so, that the Father is God, so is the Son, so
is the Holy Ghost

380 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
This being received and admitted by faith, the explication of it
"'— . ., .
Secondly, To be insisted on, and not taken mto consideration
until the others be admitted. And herein lies the preposterous course
of those who fallaciously and captiously go about to oppose this sacred
truth : — they will always begin their opposition, not unto the revela
tion of it, but unto the explanation of it; which is used only for
farther edification. Their disputes and cavils shall be against the
Trinity, essence, substance, persons, personality, respects, properties
of the divine persons, with the modes of expressing these things;
whilst the plain scriptural revelation of the things themselves from
whence they are but explanatory deductions, is not spoken to, nor
admitted into confirmation. By this means have they entangled
many weak, unstable souls, who, when they have met with things too
high, hard, and difficult for them (which in divine mysteries they
may quickly do), in the explication of this doctrine, have suffered
themselves to be taken off from a due consideration of the full and
plain revelation of the thing itself in Scripture ; until, their tempta
tions being made strong, and their darkness increased, it was too late
for them to return unto it; as bringing along with them the cavils
wherewith they were prepossessed, rather than that faith and obedi
ence which is required. But yet all this while these explanations, so
excepted against, are indeed not of any original consideration in
this matter. Let the direct, express revelations of the doctrine be con
firmed, they will follow of themselves, nor will be excepted against by
those who believe and receive it. Let that be rejected, and they will
fall of themselves, and never be contended for by those who did make
use of them. But of these things we shall treat again afterward.
This, therefore, is the way, the only way that we rationally can,
and that which in duty we ought to proceed in and by, for the assert
ing and confirming of the doctrine of the holy Trinity under consider
ation, — namely, that we produce divine revelations or testimonies,
wherein faith may safely rest and acquiesce, that God is one; that
this one God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; so that the Father is
God, so also is the Son, and the Holy Ghost likewise, and, as such, are
to be believed in, obeyed, worshipped, acknowledged, as the first cause
and last end of all, — our Lord and reward. If this be not admitted,
if somewhat of it be not, particularly [if it be] denied, we need not, we
have no warrant or ground to proceed any farther, pr at all to discourse
about the unity of the divine essence, or the distinction of the persons.
We have not, therefore, any original contest in this matter with
any, but such as deny either God to be one, or the Father to be God,
or the Son to be God, or the Holy Ghost so to be. If any deny either
of these in particular^ we are ready to confirm it by sufficient testi-

TRINITY VINDICATED. 381
monies of Scripture, or clear and undeniable divine revelation. When
.this is evinced and vindicated, we shall willingly proceed to manifest
that the explications used of this doctrine unto the edification of the
church are according to truth, and such as necessarily are required by
the nature of the things themselves. And this gives us the method
of the ensuing small discourse, with the reasons of it : —
I. The first thing which we affirm to be delivered unto us by di
vine revelation as the object of our faith, is, that God is one. I know
that this may be uncontrollably evinced by the light of reason itself,
unto as good and quiet an assurance as the mind of man is capable
of in any of its apprehensions whatever; but I speak of it now as it
is confirmed unto us by divine revelation. How this assertion of one
God respects the nature, essence, or divine being of God, shall be de
clared afterward. At present it is enough to represent the testimo
nies that he is one, — only one. And because we have no difference
with our adversaries distinctly about this matter, I shall only name
some few of them. Deut. vi. 4, " Hear, 0 Israel; The Lord our God
is one Lord." A most pregnant testimony ; and yet, notwithstand
ing, as I shall elsewhere manifest, the Trinity itself, in that one divine
essence, is here asserted. Isa. xliv. 6, 8, " Thus saith the Lord the
King of Israel, and his Redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first,
and I am the last ; and beside me there is no God. Is there a God
beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any." In which also
we may manifest that a plurality of persons is included and expressed.
And although there be no more absolute and sacred truth than this,
that God is one, yet it may be evinced that it is nowhere men
tioned in the Scripture, but that, either in the words themselves or
the context of the place, a plurality of persons in that one sense is
intimated. II. Secondly, It is proposed as the object of our faith, that the
Father is God. And herein, as is pretended, there is also an agree
ment between us and those who oppose the doctrine of the Trinity.
But there is a mistake in this matter. Their hypothesis, as they call
it, or, indeed, presumptuous error, casts all the conceptions that are
given us concerning God in the Scripture into disorder and confu
sion. For the Father, as he whom we worship, is often called so
only with reference unto his Son ; as the Son is so with reference to
the Father. He is the " only begotten of the Father," John i. 14.
But now, if this Son had no pre-existence in his divine nature before
he was born of the Virgin, there was no God the Father seventeen
hundred years ago, because there was no Son. And on this ground
did the Marcionites1 of old plainly deny the Father (whom, under
1 Marcion was a native of Pontus, and a celebrated heretic, who lived and pro
pagated his errors in the middle of the second century. He seems to have been

382 THE DOCTRINE OF tht:
t lie New Testament, we worship to be the God of the Old Testament,
who made the world, and was worshipped from the foundation of it
For it seems to follow, that he whom we woiship being the Father,
and on this supposition that the Son had no pre-existence unto his
incarnation, he was not the Father under the Old Testament; he is
some other from him that was so revealed. I know the folly of that
inference; yet how, on this opinion of the sole existence of the Son
in time, men can prove the Father to be God, let others determine.
" He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father
and the Son;" but '-'whosoever tra_gresseth and abideth not in
the doctrine of Christ, hath not God," 2 John 9. Whoever denies
Christ the Son, as the Son, that is. the eternal Son of God, he loses
the Father also, and the true God; he hath not God. For that God
which is not the Father, and which ever was, and was not the Father,
is not the true God. Hence many of the fathers, even of the first
writers of the church, were forced unto great pains in the confirma
tion of this truth, that tbe Father of Jesus Christ was he who made
the world, gave the law, spake by the prophets, and was the author
of the Old Testament; and that against men who professed themselves
to be Christians. And this brutish apprehension of theirs arose from
no other principle but this, that the' Son had only a temporal exist
ence, and was not the eternal Son of God.
But that I may not in this brief discourse digress unto other con
troversies than what lies directly before us, and seeing the adversaries
of the truth we contend for do, in words at least, grant that the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the true God, or the only true
God, I shall not farther show the inconsistency of their hypothesis
with this confession, but take it for granted that to us "there is one
God, the Father," 1 Cor. -viii 6; see John xvii 3. So that he who is
not the Father, who was not so from eternity, whose paternity is not
equally co-existent unto his Deity, is not God unto us.
HI. Thirdly, It is asserted and believed by the church that Jesus
Christ is God, the eternal Son of God; — that is, he is proposed, de
clared, and revealed unto us in the Scripture to be God, that is to be
served, worshipped, believed in, obeyed as God, upon the account of
his own divine excellencies. And whereas we beheve and know that
engaged in teaching his heretical views at Rome in aj>. 139. He held two original
and seminal principles, — the invisible and nameless one, " the Good ;** and the
visible God, " the Creator." Epiphanius ascribes to him a third, — " the DevU."
The second, according to his system, was the God of the Old Testament, the au
thor of evil; and Christ was the Son of the first, sent by him to overthrow the do
minion of God the Creator. He held that there was an irreconcilable opposition
between God the Creator revealed in the Old Testament Scriptures, and the Chris
tian God revealed in the New. One ground on which he maintained this prepos
terous notion is mentioned and explained above hy Dr Ovren. Tertullian devotes
five books to the refutation of the errors of Marcion. — _>.

TRINITY VINDICATED. 383
he was man, that he was born, lived, and died as a man, it is declared
that he is God also; and that, as God, he did pre-exist in the form of
God before his incarnation, which was effected by voluntary actings
of his own, — which could not be without a pre-existence in another
nature. This is proposed unto us to be believed upon divine testi
mony and by divine revelation. And the sole inquiry in this matter
is, whether this be proposed in the Scripture as an. object of faith,
and that which is indispensably necessary for us to believe? Let us,
then, nakedly attend unto what the Scripture asserts in this matter,
and that in the order of the books of it, in some particular instances
which at present occur to mind; as these that follow: —
Ps. xiv. 6, " Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever." Applied
unto Christ, Heb. i. 8, " But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, 0
God, is for ever and ever."
Ps. lxviii. 17, 18, " The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even
thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy
place. Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive :
thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the
Lord God might dwell among them." Applied unto the Son, Eph.
iv. 8-10, " Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led
captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended,
what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the
earth ? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far
above all heavens, that he might fill all things."
Ps. ex. 1, " The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right
hand." Applied unto Christ by himself, Matt. xxii. 44.
Ps. cii. 25-27, " Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth;
and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but
thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as
a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed : but
thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end." Declared by
the apostle to be meant of the Son, Heb. i 10-12.
Prov. viii. 22-31, " The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his
way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from
the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths,
I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with
water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I
brought forth : while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields,
nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared
the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the
depth : when he established the clouds above : when he strengthened
the fountains of the deep : when he gave to the sea his decree, that
the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed
the foundations of the earth: then I was by him, as one brought up

384 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were
with the sons of men."
Isa. vi. 1-3, ' I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims :
each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with
twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried
unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the
whole earth is full of his glory." Applied unto the Son, John xii. 41.
Isa. viii 13, 14, " Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him
be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a
sanctuary ; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to
both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem," Applied unto the Son, Luke ii 34; Rom. ix. 33;
1 Pet. ii. 8.
Isa. ix. 6, " For unto us a child is bom, unto us a son is given ;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder : and his name shall
be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting
Father, The- Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and'
peace there shall be no end."
Jer. xxiii. 5, 6, " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I
will raise unto David a righteous Branch; and this is his name
whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our Righteousness."
Hos. xii. 3-5, " He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and
by his strength he had power with God : yea, he had power over the
angel, and prevailed : he wept, and made supplication unto him : he
found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us; even the Lord
God of hosts ; the Lord is his memorial."
Zech. ii. 8, 9, " For thus saith the Lord of hosts, After the glory
hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you : and ye shall
know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me."
Matt. xvi. 16, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
Luke i. 35, " The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the Highest shall overshadow thee : therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."
John i. 1—3. " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not
any thing made that was made."
Verse 14, " And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only be
gotten of the Father."
John iiL 13, " And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he
that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in
heaven."

TRINITY VINDICATED. 3S5
John viii. 57, 58, " Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet
fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham ? Jesus said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."
John x. 30, " I and my Father are one."
John xvii. 5, " And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own
self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was."
John xx. 2S, " And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord
and my God."
Acts xx. 2S, " Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased
with his own blood."
Rom. i 3, 4, 'Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was
made of the seed of David according to the flesh ; and declared to
be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead."
Rom. ix. o, " Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who
is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen."
Rom. xiv. 10-12, " For we shaD all stand before the judgment-seat
of Christ For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee
shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then
every one of us shall give account of himself to God."
1 Cor. viii 6, " And one Lord Jesus, by whom are all things, and
we by him."
1 Cor. x. 9, " Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them also
tempted, and were destroyed of serpents;" compared with Numb.
wi 6.
Phil ii 5, 6, " Let this mind be in you, whieh was also in Christ
Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God."
CoL i 15-17, " Who is the image of the invisible God, the first
born of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are
in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they
be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were
created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him
all things consist"
1 Tim. iii 16, " Without controversy great is the mystery of godli
ness: God was manifest in the flesh."
Tit ii 13, 14, " Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave
himself for us."
Heb. L throughout
Chap, iii 4, " For every house is builded by some man; but he
that built all things is God."
1 Pet L 11, " Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit
of Christ which was in them did signify."
VOL. n. 25

386 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
Chap, iii 18-20, " For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: by
which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison ; which
sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited
in the days of Noah."
1 John iii 16, " Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he
laid down his life for us."
Chap. v. 20, " And we are in him that is true, even in his Son
Jesus Christ This is the true God, and eternal life."
Rev. L 8, " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and tbe ending,
saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the
Almighty." Verses 11-13, " I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last:
and, What thou seest, write in a book. .... And I turned to see the
voice that spake with me. And, being turned, I saw seven golden
candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like
unto the Son of man."
Verse 17, " And when I saw, him, I fell at his feet as dead. And
he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the
first and the last."
Chap, ii 23, " I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and ,
I will give unto every one of you according to your works."
These are some of the places wherein the truth under consideration
is revealed and declared, — some of the divine testimonies whereby it
is confirmed and estabUshed, which I have not at present inquired
after, but suddenly repeated as -they came to mind. Many more of
the like nature and importance may be added unto them, and shall
be so as occasion doth require.
Let, now, any one who owns the Scripture to be the word of God,
— to contain an infallible revelation of the things proposed in it to be
believed, — and who hath any conscience exercised towards God for the
receiving and submitting unto what he declares and reveals, take
a view of these testimonies, and consider whether they do not suffi
ciently propose this object of our faith. Shall a few poor trifling soph
isms, whose terms are scarcely understood by the most that amongst
us make use of them, according as they have found them framed by
others, be thought meet to be set up in opposition unto these multi
plied testimonies of the Holy Ghost, and to cast the truth confirmed
by them down from its credit and reputatipn in the consciences of
men? For my part, I do not see in any thing, but that the testi
monies given to the Godhead of Christ, the eternal Son of God, are
every way as clear and unquestionable as those are which testify to
the being of God, or that there is any God at all Were men ac
quainted with the Scriptures as they ought to be, and as the most,

TRINITY VINDICATED. 387
considering the means and advantages they have had, might have
been; did they ponder and believe on what they read, or had they any
tenderness in their consciences as to that reverence, obedience, aud
subjection of soul which God requires unto his word; it were utterly
impossible that their faith in this matter should ever in the least be
shaken by a few lewd sophisms or loud clamours oi men destitute
of the truth, and of the spirit of it.
That we may now improve these testimonies unto the end under
design, as the nature of this brief discourse will bear, I shall first
remove the general answers which the Socinians give unto them, and
then manifest farther how uncontrollable they are, by giving an in
stance in the frivolous exceptions of the same persons to one oi them
in particular. And we are ready, God assisting, to maintain that
there is not any one of them which doth not give a sufficient ground
for faith to rest on in this matter concerning the Deity of Christ, and
that against all the Socinians in the world.
They say, therefore, commonly, that we prove not by these testi
monies what is by them denied. For they acknowledge Christ to be
God, and that because he is exalted unto that glory and authority
that all creatures are put into subjection unto him, and all, both men
and angels, are commanded to worship and adore him. So that he is
God by office, though he be not God by nature. He is God, but he
is not the most high God. And this last expression they have almost
continually in their mouths, " He is not the most high God." And
commonly, with great contempt and scorn, they are ready to reproach
them who have solidly confirmed the doctrine of the Deity of Christ as
ignorant of the state of the controversy, in that they have not proved
him to be the most high God, in subordination unto whom they
acknowledge Christ to be God, and that he ought to be worshipped
with divine and religious worship.
But there cannot be any thing more empty and vain than these
pretences; and, besides, they accumulate in them their former errors,
with the addition of new ones. For, —
First. The name of the most high God is first ascribed unto God in
Gen. xiv. 18, 19, 22, denoting his sovereignty and dominion. Now,
as other attributes of . God, it is not distinctive of the subject, but
only descriptive of it. So are all other excellencies of the nature of
God. It doth not intimate that there are other gods, only he is the
most high, or one over them all; but only that the true God is most
high, — that is, endued with sovereign power, dominion, and authority
over alL To say, then, that Christ indeed is God, but not the most
high God, is all one as to say he is God, but not the most holy God,
or not the true God; and so they have brought their Christ into the
number of false gods, whilst they deny the true Christ, who, in his

388 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
divine nature, is "over all, God blessed for ever," Rom. ix. 5; a
phrase of speech perfectly expressing this attribute of the most high
God. Secondly. This answer is suited only unto those testimonies which
express the name of God with a corresponding power and authority
unto that name; for in reference unto these alone can it be pleaded,
with any pretence of reason, that he is a God by office, — though that
also.be done veryfutilously and impertinently. But most of the
testimonies produced speak directly unto his divine excellencies and
properties, which belong unto his nature necessarily and absolutely.
That he is eternal, omnipotent, immense, omniscient, infinitely wise ;
and that he is, and worketh, and produceth effects suitable unto all
these properties, and such as nothing but they can enable him for ; is
abundantly proved by the foregoing testimonies. Now, all these con
cern a divine nature, a natural essence, a Godhead, and not such
power or authority as a man may be exalted unto ; yea, the ascrib
ing any of them to such a one, implies the highest contradiction
expressible. Thirdly. This God in authority and office, and not by nature, that
should be the object of divine worship, is a new abomination. For
they are divine, essential excellencies that are the formal reason and
object oi worship, religious and divine ; and to ascribe it unto any
one that is not God by nature, is idolatry. By making, therefore,
their Christ such a God as they describe, they bring him under the
severe commination of the true God. Jer. x. 13 , " The gods that have
not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the
earth, and from under these heavens." That Christ they worship
they say is a God ; but they deny that he is " that God that made
the heavens and the earth :" and so leave him exposed to the threat
enings of him, who will accomplish it to the uttermost
Some other general exceptions sometimes they make use of, which
the reader may free himself from the entanglement of, if he do but
heed these ensuing rules : —
First. Distinction of persons (of which afterwards), it being in an
infinite substance, doth no way prove a difference of essence between
the Father and the Son. Where, therefore, Christ, as the Son, is said
to be another from the Father, or God, spoken personally of the
Father, it argues not in the least that he is not partaker of the same
nature with him. That in one essence there can be but one person,
may be true where the substance is finite and limited, but hath no
place in that which is infinite.
Secondly. Distinction and inequality in respect of office in Christ,
doth npt in the least take away his equality and sameness with the
Father in respect of nature and essence, Phil. ii. 7, 8. A son, of tho

TRINITY VINDICATED. 389
same nature with his father, and therein equal to him, may in office
be his inferior, — his subject.
Thirdly. The advancement and exaltation of Christ as mediator to
any dignity whatever, upon or in reference to the work of our re
demption and salvation, is not at all inconsistent with the essential
honour, dignity, and worth, which he hath in himself as God blessed
for ever. Though he humbled himself, and was exalted in office, yet
in nature he was one and the same ; he changed not.
Fourthly. The Scriptures, asserting the humanity of Christ, with
the concernments thereof, as his birth, life, and death, do no more
thereby deny his Deity than, by asserting his Deity, with the essen
tial properties thereof, they deny his humanity.
Fifthly. God working in and by Christ as he was ni'ediator, denotes
the Father's sovereign appointment of the things mentioned to be
done, — not his immediate efficiency in the doing of the things them
selves. These rules are proposed a little before their due place in the
method which we pursue. But I thought meet to interpose them
here, as containing a sufficient ground for the resolution and answer
ing of all the sophisms and objections which the adversaries use in
this cause.
From the cloud of witnesses before produced, every one whereof is
singly sufficient to evert the -Socinian infidelity, I shall in one of
them give an instance, both of the clearness of the evidence and the
weakness of the exceptions which are wont to be put in against them,
as was promised ; and this is John i. 1-3, " In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The
same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him;
and without him was not any thing made that was made."
By the Word, here, or b Aoyog, on what account soever he be so
called, either as being the eternal Word and Wisdom of the Father,
or as the great Revealer of the will of God unto us, Jesus Christ the
Son of God is intended. This is on all hands acknowledged ; and the
context will admit of no hesitation about it. For of this Word it is
said, that " he came" into the world, verse 10; " was rejected by his
own," verse 11; "was made flesh and dwelt among us, whose glory
was the glory as of the only begotten Son of the Father," verse 14;
called expressly "Jesus Christ," verse 17; "the only begotten Son of
the Father," verse 18. The subject, then, treated of, is here agreed
upon; and it is no less evident that it- is the design of the apostle
to declare both who and what he was of whom he treateth. Here,
then, if any where, we may learn what we are to believe concerning
the person of Christ; which also we may certainly do, if our minds
are not perverted through 'prejudice, " whereby the god of this world

390 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
doth blind the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them," 2 Cor. iv. 4. Of this Word, then, this Son of God, it is
affirmed, that he " was in the beginning." And this word, if it doth
not absolutely and formally express eternity, yet it doth a pre-exist
ence unto the whole creation; which amounts to the same: for
nothing can pre-exist unto all creatures, but in the nature of God,
which is eternal; unless we shall suppose a creature before the crea
tion of any. But what is meant by this expression the Scripture
doth elsewhere declare. Prov. viii. 23, " I was set up from everlast
ing, from the beginning, or ever the earth was." John xvii. 5,
" Glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had
with thee before the world was." Both which places, as they explain
this phrase, so also do they undeniably testify unto the eternal pre-
existence of Christ the Son of God. And in this case we prevail
against our adversaries, if we prove any pre-existence of Christ unto
his incarnation; which, as they absolutely deny, so to grant it would
overthrow their whole heresy in this matter. And therefore they
know that the testimony of our Saviour concerning himself, if under
stood in a proper, intelligible sense, is perfectly destructive of their
pretensions, John viii. 58, " Before Abraham was. I am." For
although there be no proper sense in the words, but a gross equivo
cation, if the existence of Christ before Abraham was born be not
asserted in them (seeing he spake in answer to that objection of the
Jews, that he was not yet fifty years old, and so could not have seen
Abraham, nor Abraham him; and fhe Jews that were present, under
stood well enough that he asserted a divine pre-existence unto his
being born, so long ago, as that hereon, after their manner, they took
up stones to stone him, as supposing him to have blasphemed in as
serting his Deity, as others now do in the denying of it) ; yet they
[Socinians], seeing how fatal this pre-existence, though not here
absolutely asserted to be eternal, would be to their cause, contend
that the meaning of the words is, that " Christ was to be the light of
the world before Abraham was made the father of many nations;" —
an interpretation so absurd and sottish, as never any man not infatu
ated by the god of this world could once admit and give counte
nance unto.
But "in the beginning," as absolutely used, is the same with
" from everlasting," as it is expounded, Prov. viii. 23, and denoteth
an eternal existence; which is here affirmed of the Word, the Son of
God. But let the word " beginning," be restrained unto the subject-
matter treated of (which is the creation of all things), and the pre-
existence of Christ in his divine nature unto the creation of all things
is plainly revealed, and inevitably asserted. And indeed, not only

TRINITY VINDICATED. 391
the word, but the discourse of these verses, doth plainly relate unto,
and is expository of, the first verse in the Bible, Gen. i. 1, " In the be
ginning God created the heaven and the earth." There it is asserted
that in the beginning God created all things ; here, that the Word was
in the beginning; and made all things. This, then, is the least that we
have obtained from this first word of our testimony, — namely, that
the Word or Son of God had a personal pre-existence unto the whole
creation. In what nature this must be, let these men of reason
satisfy themselves, who know that Creator and creatures take up the
whole nature of beings. One of them he must be ; and it may be
well supposed that he was not a creature before the creation of any.
But, secondly, Where, or with whom, was this Word in the begin
ning? " It was," saith the Holy Ghost, " with God." There being
no creature then existing, he could be nowhere but with God ; that
is, the Father, as it is expressed in one of the testimonies before going,
Prov. viii. 22, " The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way,
before his works of old;" verse 30, "Then was I by him as one
brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always
before him;" that is, in the beginning this Word, or Wisdom of God,
was with God.
And this is the same which our Lord Jesus asserts concerning
himself, John iii. 13, " And no man," saith he, " hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man
which is in heaven." And so in other places he affirms his being
in heaven, — that is, with God, — at the same time when he was on the
earth ; whereby he declares the immensity of his nature, and the dis
tinction of his person ; and his coming down from heaven before he
was incarnate on the earth, declaring his pre-existence; by both
manifesting the meaning of this expression, that " in the beginning
he was with God." But hereunto they have invented a notable eva
sion. For although they know not well what to make of the last
clause of the words, that says, then he was in heaven when he spake
on earth, — " The Son of man which is in heaven," answerable to the
description of God's immensity, "Do not I fill heaven and earth?
saith the Lord',' Jer. xxiii. 24, but say that he was there by heavenly
meditation, as another man may be ; yet they give a very clear answer
to what must of necessity be included in his descending from, heaven,
— namely, his pre-existence to his incarnation: for they tell us
that, before his public ministry, he was in his human nature (which
is all they allow unto him) taken up into heaven, and there taught
the gospel, as the great impostor Mohammed pretended he was taught
his Alkoran. If you ask them who told them so, they cannot tell ;
but they can tell when it was, — namely, when he was led by the
Spirit into the wilderness for forty days after his baptism. But yet

392 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
this instance is subject to another misadventure ; in that one of the
evangelists plainly affirms that he was " those forty days in the wil
derness with the wild beasts," Mark i 13, and so, surely, not in heaven
in the same nature, by his bodily presence, with God and his holy
angels. And let me add this,- by the way, that the interpretation of this
place, John i. 1, to be mentioned afterward, and those of the two
places before mentioned, John viii. 58, iii. 13, Faustus Socinus1
learned out of his uncle Lselius' papers, as he confesseth; and doth
more than intimate that he believed he had them as it were by reve
lation. And it may be so; they are indeed so forced, absurd, and
irrational, that no man could ever fix upon them by any reasonable
investigation; but the author of this revelation, if we may judge of
the parent by the child, could be no other but the spirit of error and
darkness. I suppose, therefore, that notwithstanding these excep
tions, Christians will believe " that in the beginning the Word was
with God;" that is, that the Son was with the Father, as is fre
quently elsewhere declared.
But who was this Word? Saith the apostle, He was God. He was
so with God (that is, the Father), as that he himself was God also ; —
God, in that notion of God which both nature and the Scripture do
represent; not a god by office, one exalted to that dignity (which can
not well be pretended before the creation of the world), but as Thomas
confessed him, " Our Lord and our God," John xx. 28 ; or as Paul
expresses it, " Over all, God blessed for ever;" or the most high God;
1 The two Sozzini were descended from an honourable family, and were both
born at Siena, — Lselius, the uncle, in 1525, and his nephew, Faustus, in 1539.
The former became addicted to the careful study of the Scriptures, forsaking tlie
legal profession, for which he had undergone some training; and acquiring, in
furtherance of his favourite pursuit, the Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic languages.
He is said to have been one of forty individuals who held meetings for conference
on religious topics, chiefly at Vicenza, and who sought to establish a purer creed,
by the rejection of certain doctrines on which all the divines of the Reformation
strenuously insisted. To these Vicentine " colleges," as the meetings were termed,
Socinians have been accustomed to trace the origin of their peculiar tenets. Dr
M'Crie, in his " History of the Reformation in Italy" (p. 154), assigus strong reasons
for discarding this account of the origin of Socinianism as unworthy of credit.
Lselius never committed himself during his life to a direct avowal of his senti
ments, and was on terms of intercourse and correspondence with the leading Re
formers; intimating, however, his scruples and doubts to such an extent, tbat his
soundness in the faith was questioned, and he received an admonition from Calvin.
He left Italy in 1547, travelled extensively, and at length settled in Zurich, where
he died in 1562, leaving behind him some manuscripts, to which Dr Owen alludes,
and of which his nephew availed himself, in reducing the errors held in common
by uncle and nephew to the form of a theological system.
The nephew, Faustus, had rather a chequered life. Tainted at an early age
with the heresy of his uncle, be was under the necessity of quitting Siena; and
after having held for twelve years some honourable offices in the court of the
Duke of Tuscany, he repaired to Basle, and for three years devoted himself to
theological study. The doubts of the uncle rose to the importance of convictions
iu the mind of the nephew. In consequence of divisions among the reformers of

TRINITY VINDICATED. 393
which these men love to deny. Let not the infidelity of men, excited
by the craft and malice of Satan, seek for blind occasions, and this
matter is determined; if the word and testimony of God be able to
umpire a difference amongst the children of men. Here is the sum
of our creed in this matter, " In the beginning the Word was God,"
and so continues unto eternity, being Alpha and Omega, the first and
the last, the Lord God Almighty.
And to show that he was so God in the beginning, as that he was
one distinct, in something, from God the Father, by whom afterward
he was sent into the world, he adds, verse 2, " The same was in the
beginning with God." Farther, also, to evince what he hath asserted
and revealed for us to believe, the Holy Ghost adds, both as a firm
declaration of his eternal Deity, and also his immediate care of the
world (which how he variously exercised, both in a way of providence
and grace, he afterward declares), verse 3, " All things were made by
him." He was so in the beginning, before all things, as that he made
them all. And that it may not be supposed that the ".all" that he
is said to make or create was to be limited unto any certain sort
of things, he adds, that " without him nothing was made that was
made;" which gives the first assertion an absolute universality as to
its subject.
And this he farther describes, verse 10, " He was in the world, and
- the world was made by him." The world that was made, hath a
usual distribution, in the Scripture, into the " heavens and the earth,
Transylvania, who had become Antitrinitarians, he was sent for by Blandrata,
one of their leaders, to reason Francis David out of some views he held regarding
the adoration due to Christ. The result was, that David was cast into prison,
where he died, — Socinus using no influence to restrain the Prince of Transylvania
from such cruel intolerance ; a fact too often forgotten by some who delight in
reproaching Calvin for the death of Servetiis. He visited Poland in 1579; but
before his visit, the Antitrinitarians of that country had, by resolutions of their
synods in 1563 and 1565, withdrawn from the communion of other churches, and
published a Bible and a Catechism, — commonly known, from Rakau, the town in
which it was published, as the " Racovian Catechism." Faustus Socinus was not
at first well received by his Polish brethren; but he overcame their aversion to
hi in, which at one time was so strong that he was nearly torn to pieces by a mob.
He acquired considerable influence amongst them ; managed to compose their
diiferences, and became so popular, that his co-religionists adopted the name of
Socinians, in preference to their old name of Unitarians. He died in 1604. His
tracts were collected into two folio volumes of the " Bibliotheca Fratrum Polo-
norum." Starting with mistaken views of private judgment, he inferred, from
the right to the exercise of individual belief on the authority of Scripture, the
competency of reason to determine the credibility of doctrine; but his views
differed from modern Rationalism, inasmuch as he adhered more to historical
Christianity as the basis of his principles, and was by no means so free in impugn
ing the authenticity of Scripture, when it bore against his system. His heresies
assumed a shape more positive and definite than is generally fancied, and affected
the doctrines of the Trinity, the divinity of Christ (on wliich his views were some
what akin to Arianism), the necessity of an atonement, the nature of repentance,
the efficacy of grace, the sacraments, and the eternity of future punishments.
—Ed.

394 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
and all things contained in them;" — as Actsiv. 24, " Lord, thou art
God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that
in them is;" that is, the world, the making whereof is expressly as
signed unto the Son, Heb. i 10, " Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast
laid the foundation of the earth ; and the heavens are the works of
thine hands." And the apostle Paul, to secure our understandings
in this matter, instanceth in the- most noble parts of the creation,
and which, if any, might seem to be excepted from being made by
him, Col.' i 16, " For by him were all things created, that are in
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers ; all things were
created by him, and for him." The Socinians say, indeed, that he
made angels to be thrones and principalities; that is, he gave them
their order, but not their being: which is expressly contrary to the
words of the text ; so that a man knows not well what to say to these
persons, who, at their pleasure, cast off the authority of God in his
word: " By him were all things created, that are in' heaven, and that
are in earth."
What now can be required to secure our faith in this matter? In
what words possible could a divine revelation of the eternal power
and Godhead of the Son of God be made more plain and clear unto
the sons of men? or how could the truth of any thing more evi
dently be represented unto their minds? If we understand not the
mind of God and intention of the Holy Ghost in this matter, we may
utterly despair ever to come to an acquaintance with any thing that
God reveals unto us ; or, indeed, with any thing else that is expressed
or is to be expressed, by words. It is directly said that the Word
(that is Christ, as is acknowledged by all) " was with God," distinct
from him ; and " was God," one with him ; that he was so " in the be
ginning," before the creation, that he " made all things," — the world,
all things in heaven and in earth: and if he be not God, who is?
The sum is, — all the ways whereby we may know God are, his name,
his properties, and his works; but they are all here ascribed by the
Holy Ghost to the Son, to the Word: and he therefore is God, or we
know neither who nor what God is.
But say the Socinians,." These things are quite otherwise, and the
words have another sense in them than you imagine." What is it, I
pray? We bring none to them, we impose no sense upon them, we
strain not any word in them, from, beside, or beyond its native,
genuine signification, its constant application in the Scripture, and
common use amongst men. What, then, is this latent sense that is
intended, and is discoverable only by themselves? Let us hear them
coining and stamping this sense of theirs.
First, they say that by " In the beginning," is not meant of the

TRINITY VINDICATED. 395
beginning of all things, or the creation of them, but the beginning
of the preaching of the gospel. But why so, I pray? Wherever these
words are else used in the Scripture, they denote the beginning of all
things, or eternity absolutely, or an existence preceding their creation.
" In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth," Gen. i 1.
" I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth
was," Prov. viii. 23. " Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the
foundation of the earth," Heb. i. 1 0. And besides, these words are
never used absolutely anywhere for the beginning of the gospel.
There is mention made, indeed, of the " beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ," Mark i. 1, which is referred to the preaching of John
Baptist : but " In the beginning," absolutely, is never so used or
applied ; and they must meet with men of no small inclination unto
them, who will, upon their desire, in a matter of so great importance,
forego the sense of words which is natural and proper, fixed by its
constant use in the Scripture, when applied in the same kind, for that
which is forced and strained, and not once exemplified in the whole
book of God. But the words, they say, are to be restrained to the
subject-matter treated of. Well, what is that subject-matter ? " The
new creation, by the preaching of the gospel." But this is plainly
false ; nor will the words allow any such sense, nor the context, nor
is any thing offered to give evidence unto this corrupt perverting of
the words, unless it be a farther perverting of other testimonies no
less clear than this. ,
For what is, according to this interpretation, the meaning of these
words, " In the beginning was the Word?" "That is, when John Bap
tist preached, and said, ' This is the Lamb of God,' which was sig
nally the beginning of the gospel, — then he was." That is, he was when
he was, — no doubt of it ! And is not this a notable way of interpreting
of Scripture which these great pretenders to a dictatorship in reason,
indeed hucksters in sophistry, do make use of? But to go on with
them in this supposition, How was he then with God, — " The Word
was with God?" "That is," say they, " he was then known only to God,
before John Baptist preached him in the beginning." But what shall
compel us, to admit of this uncouth sense and exposition, — " ' He was
with God;' that is, he was known to God alone?" What is there
singular herein ? concerning how many things may the same be
affirmed ? Besides, it is absolutely false. He was known to the
angel Gabriel, who came to his mother with the message of his incar
nation, Luke i. 35. He was known to the two angels which appeared
to the shepherds upon his birth, Luke ii. 9,— to all the heavenly host
assembled to give praise and glory to God on the account of his
nativity, as those who came to worship him, and to pay him the
homage due unto him, Luke ii. 1 0, 1 3, 1 4. He was known to his mother,

396 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
the blessed Virgin, and to Joseph, and Zacharias, and to Elisabeth,
to Simeon and Anna, to John Baptist, and probably to many more
to whom Simeon and Anna spake of him!, Luke ii. 38. So that the
sense pretended to be wrung out and extorted from these words,
against their proper meaning and intendment, is indeed false and
frivolous, and belongs not at all unto them.
But let this pass. What shall we say to the next words, " And
the Word was God?" Give us leave, without disturbance from you,
but to believe this expression, which compriseth a revelation of
God, proposed to us on purpose that we should believe it, and there
will be, as Was said, an end of this difference and debate. Yea, but
say they, "These words have another sense also." Strange ! they seem
to be so plain and positive, that it is impossible any other sense should
be fixed on them but only this, that the Word was in the beginning,
and was God ; and therefore is so still, unless he who is once God can
cease so to be. " But the meaning is, that aftenvards God exalted
him, and made him God, as to rule, authority, and power." This
making of him God is an expression very offensive to the ears of all
sober Christians; and was therefore before exploded. And these
things here, as all other figments, hang together like a rope of sand.
In the beginning of the gospel he was God, before any knew him
but only God ; that is, after he had preached the gospel, and died,
and rose again, and was exalted at the right hand of God, he was
made God, and that not properly, which is absolutely impossible, but
in an improper sense ! How prove they, then, this perverse nonsense
to be the sense of these plain words ? They say it must needs be so.
Let them believe them who are willing to perish with them.
Thus far, then, we have their sense : — " In the beginning," that is,
about sixteen or seventeen hundred years ago, " the Word," that is,
the human nature of Christ before it was made flesh, which it was in
its being, "was with God," that is, known to God alone; and "in
the beginning," that is afterwards, not in the beginning, was made
God ! — which is the sum of their exposition of this place.
But what shall we say to what is affirmed concerning his making
of all things, so as that without him, that is, without his making of
it, nothing was made that was made; especially seeing that these
" all things" are expressly said to be the world, verse 10, and all
things therein contained, even in heaven and earth? Col. i. 16. An
ordinary man would think that they should now be taken hold of,
and that there is no way of escape left unto them ; but they have it in
a readiness. By the " all things" here, are intended all things of the
gospel, — the preaching of it, the sending of the apostles to preach it,
and to declare the will of God ; and by the " world," is intended the
world to come, or the new state of things under the gospel. This is

TRINITY VINDICATED. 397
the substance of what is pleaded by the greatest masters amongst
¦ them in this matter, and they are not ashamed thus to plead.
And the reader, in this instance, may easily discern what a despe
rate cause they are engaged in, and how bold and desperate they are
in the management of it. - For, —
First, The words are a plain illustration of the divine nature
of the Word, by his divine power and works, as the very series of
them declares. He was God, and he made all things : " He that built
all things is God," Heb. iii. 4.
Secondly, There is no one word spoken concerning the gospel, nor the
preaching of it, nor any effects of that preaching ; which the apostle ex
pressly insists upon and declares afterward, verse 15, and so onwards.
Thirdly, The making of all things, here ascribed unto the Word,
was done in the beginning; but that making of all things which
they intend, in erecting the church by the preaching of the word,
was not done in the beginning, but afterwards, — most of it, as them
selves confess, after the ascension of Christ into heaven.
Fourthly, In this gloss, what is the meaning of " All things?"
" Only some things," say the Socinians. What is the meaning of
"Weremade?" " That is, were mended." "Byhim?" "Thatis,the
apostles, principally preaching the gospel." And this " In the begin
ning?" " After it was past;" — for so they say expressly, that the prin
cipal things here intended were effected by the apostles afterwards.
I think, since the beginning, place it when you will, — the begin
ning of the world or the beginning of the gospel, — there was never
such an exposition of the words of God or man contended for.
Fifthly, It is said, " He made the world," and he " came" into it, —
namely, the world wliich he made; and "the world," or the inha
bitants of it " knew him not." But the world they intend did know
him : for the church knew him, and acknowledged him to be the Son
of God ; for that was the foundation that it was built upon.
I have instanced directly in this only testimony, to give the reader
a pledge of the full confirmation which may be given unto this great
fundamental truth, by a due improvement of those other testimonies,
or distinct revelations, which speak no less expressly to the same pur
pose. And of them there is not any one but we are ready to vindi
cate it, if called thereunto, from the exceptions of these men; which
how bold and sophistical they are we may. in these now considered,
also learn and know.
It appeareth, then, that there is a full, sufficient revelation made
in the Scripture of the eternal Deity of the Son of God; and that he
is so, as is the Father also. More particular testimonies I shall not
at present insist upon, referring the full discussion and vindication of
these truths to another season.

398 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
IV. Fourthly, We are, therefore, in the next place, to manifest that
the same, or the like testimony, is given unto the Deity of the Holy
Spirit; that is, that he is revealed and declared in the Scripture as the
object of our faith, worship, and obedience, on the account and for the
reason of those divine excellencies which are the sole reason of our
yielding religious worship unto any, or expecting from any the reward
that is promised unto us, or to be brought by them to the end for
which we are. And herein lies, as was showed, the concernment of
faith. When that knows what it is to believe as on divine revelation,
and is enabled thereby to regulate the soul in its present obedience
and future expectation, seeing it is its nature to work by love and
hope, there it rests. Now, this is done to the utmost satisfaction in
the revelation that is made of the divine existence, divine excellen
cies, and divine operations of the Spirit; as shall be briefly manifested.
But before we proceed, we may, in our way, observe a great con-
gruency of success in those who have denied the Deity of the Son
and those who have denied that of the Holy Spirit. For as to the
Son, after some men began once to disbelieve the revelation concern
ing him, and would not acknowledge him to be God and man in one
person, they could never settle nor agree, either what or who he was,
or who was his Father, or why he was the Son. Some said he was
a phantasm or appearance, and that he had no real subsistence in
this world; and that all that was done by him was an appearance,
he himself being they know not what elsewhere. That proud beast,
Paulus Samosatenus,1 whose flagitious life contended for a pre-emi
nence in wickedness with his prodigious heresies, was one of the first,
after the Jews, that positively contended for his being a man, and no
more; who was followed by Photinus and others. The Arians per
ceiving the folly of this opinion, with the odium of it amongst all
that bare the name of Christians, and that they had as good deny
the whole Scripture as not grant unto him a pre-existence in a divine
nature antecedent to his incarnation, they framed a new Deity, which
God should make before the world, in all things like himself, but not
the same with him in essence and substance, but to be so like him
that, by the writings of some of them, ye can scarce know the one from
the other; and that this was the Son of God, also, who was after
ward incarnate. Others, in the meantime, had more monstrous ima
ginations: some, that he was an angel; some, that he was the sun;
some, that he was the soul of the world; some, the light within men.
1 A heresiarch of the third century, elevated to the bishopric of Antioch about
a.d. 260. He is said to have indulged in haughty pomp and licentious practices,
and was deposed by a council held in 269, chiefly for his heretical doctrines ; 
amongst which he held, that while the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one God,
they are not respectively distinct persons, and that the Son in particular had no
distinct personality, but existed in God, and came to dwell in the man Jesus.'

TRINITY VINDICATED. 399
Departing from their proper rest, so have they hovered about, and
so have tbey continued to do until this day.
In the same manner it is come to pass with them who have de
nied the Deity of the Holy Ghost. They could never find where
to stand or abide; but one hath cried up one thing, another an
other. At first they observed that such things were everywhere
ascribed unto him in the Scripture as uncontrollably evidence him
to be an intelligent, voluntary agent This they found so plain and
evident, that they could not deny but that he was a person, or an
intelligent subsistence. Wherefore, seeing they were resolved not
to assent unto the revelation of his being God, they made him a
created spirit, chief and above all others; but still, whatever else he
were, he was only a creature. And this course some of late also
have steered.
The Socinians, on the other hand, observing that such things are
assigned and ascribed unto him, as that, if they acknowledge him
to be a person, or a substance, they must, upon necessity, admit him
to be God, though they seemed .not, at first, at all agreed what to
think or say concerning him positively, yet they all concurred per
emptorily in denying his personality. Hereon, some of them said he
was the gospel, which others of them have confuted ; some, that he
was Christ. Neither could they agree whether there was one Holy
Ghost or more; — whether the Spirit of God, and the good Spirit of
God, and the Holy Spirit, be the same or no. In general, now they
conclude that he is " vis Dei," or " virtus Dei," or " efficacia Dei;" —
no substance, but a quality, that may be considered either as being
in God, and then they say it is the Spirit of God; or as sanctifying
and conforming men unto God, and then they say it is the Holy
Ghost. Whether these things do answer the revelation made in the
Scripture concerning the eternal Spirit of God, will be immediately
manifested. Our Quakers, who have for a long season hovered up
and down like a swarm of flies, with a confused noise and humming,
begin now to settle in the opinions lately by them declared for. But
what their thoughts will .fall in to be concerning the Holy Ghost,
when they shall be contented to speak intelligibly, and according to
the usage of other men, or the pattern of Scripture the great rule of
speaking or treating about spiritual things, I know not, and am un
certain whether they do so themselves or no. Whether he may be
the light within them, or an infallible afflatus, is uncertain. In the
meantime, what is revealed unto us in the Scripture to be believed
concerning the Holy Ghost, his Deity and personality, may be seen
in the ensuing testimonies.
The sum of this revelation is, — that the Holy Spirit is an eternally
existing divine substance, the author of divine operations, and the

400 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
object of divine and religious worship ; that is, " Over all, God blessed
for ever," as the ensuing testimonies evince : —
Gen. i. 2, " The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters"
Ps. xxxiii. 6, " By the word of the Lord were the heavens made;
and all the host of them by the Spirit of his mouth."
Job xxvi 13, "By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens,"
Job xxxiii. 4, " The Spirit of God hath made me."
Ps. civ. 30, " Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created."
Matt, xxviii. 19, " Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
Acts i. 1 6, " That scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which
the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake."
Acts v. 3, " Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart
to lie to the Holy Ghost?" verse 4, "Thou hast not lied unto men,
but unto God."
Acts xxviii. 25, 26, " Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the
prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say," etc.
1 Cor. iii. 16, " Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"
1 Cor. xii. 11, "All these worketh that one and the self-same
Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he wilL" Verse 6, " And
there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which
worketh all in all."
2 Cor. xiii 14, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love
of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you alL"
Acts xx. 28, " Take heed to the flock over the which the Holy
Ghost hath made you overseers."
Matt. xii. 31, " All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven
unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be
forgiven unto men."
Ps. cxxxix. 7, "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?"
John xiv. 26, " But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom
the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things."
Luke xii. 12, " The Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour
what ye ought to say."
Acts xiii 2, " As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy
Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I
have called them."
Verse 4, " So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed
unto Seleucia," etc.
2 Pet i. 21, " For the prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost" It is evident, upon the first consideration, that there is not any

TRINITY VINDICATED. 401
thing which we believe concerning the Holy Ghost, but that it is
plainly revealed and declared in these testimonies. He is directly
affirmed to be, and is called, " God," Acts v. 3, 4 ; which the Socinians
will not say is by virtue of an exaltation unto an office or authority,
as they say of the Son. He is an intelligent, voluntary, divine agent;
he knsweth, he worketh as he will : which things, if, in their frequent
repetition, they are not sufficient to evince an intelligent agent, a
personal, subsistence, that hath being, life, and will, we must confess
that the Scripture was written on purpose to lead us into mistakes
and misapprehensions of what we are, under penalty of eternal ruin,
rightly to apprehend and believe. It declareth, also, that he is the
author and worker of all sorts of divine operations, requiring immen
sity, omnipotency, omnisciency, and all other divine excellencies,
unto their working and effecting. Moreover, it is revealed that he
is peculiarly to be believed in, and may peculiarly be sinned against,
[as] the great author of all grace in believers and order in the church.
This is the sum of what we believe, of what is revealed in the Scrip
ture concerning the Holy Ghost
As, in the consideration of the preceding head, we vindicated one
testimony in particular from the exceptions of the adversaries of the
truth, so on this we may briefly sum up the evidence that is given
us in the testimonies before produced, that the reader may the more
easily understand their intendment, and what, in parjci lar, they bear
witness unto.
The sum is, that the Holy Ghost is a divine, distinct person, and
neither merely the power or virtue of God, nor any created spirit
whatever. This plainly appears, from what is revealed concerning
him. For he who is placed in the same series or order with other
* divine persons, without the least note of difference or distinction from
them, as to an interest in personality; who hath the names proper to
a divine person only, and is frequently and directly called by them ;
who also hath personal properties, and is the voluntary author of
personal, divine operations, and the proper object of divine worship, —
he is a distinct divine person And if these things be not a sufficient
evidence and demonstration of a divine, inteUigent substance, I shall,
as was said before, despair to understand any thing that is expressed
and declared by words. But now thus it is with the Holy Ghost,
according to the revelation made concerning him in the Scripture.
For,— First. He is placed in the same rank and order, without any note
of difference or .distinction as to a distinct interest in the divine nature
(that is, as we shall see, personality) with the other divine persons.
Matt xxviii. 19, "Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 1 John v. 7, " There are three that
VOL. il. 26

402 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost
and these three are one." 1 Cor. xii. 3-6, " No man can say that
Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now, there are diversities
of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administra
tions, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations,
but it is the same God which worketh all in all." Neither doth a
denial of his divine being and distinct existence leave any tolerable
sense unto these expressions. For read the words of the first place
from the mind of the Socinians, and see what is it that can be gathered
from them, " Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the virtue or efficacy of the Father." Can any thing be
more absonant from faith and reason than this absurd expression?
and yet it is the direct sense, if it be any, that these men put upon
the words. To join a quality with acknowledged persons, and that in
such things and cases as wherein they are proposed under a personal
consideration, is a strange kind of mystery. And the like may be
manifested concerning the other places.
Secondly. He also hath the names proper to a divine person only ;
for he is expressly called " God," Acts v. He who is termed the
" Holy Ghost," verse 3, and the " Spirit of the Lord," verse 9, is
called also " God," verse 4. Now, this is the name of a divine person,
on one account or other. The Socinians would not allow Christ to
be called God were he not a divine person, though not by nature,
yet by office and authority. And I suppose they will not find out
an office for the Holy Ghost, whereunto he might be exalted, on the
account whereof he might become God, seeing this would acknow
ledge him to be a person, which they deny. So he is called the
" Comforter," John xvi. 7. A personal appellation this is also; and
because he is the Comforter of all God's people, it can be the name
of none but a divine person. In the same place, also, it is frequently
affirmed, that he shall come, that he shall and will do such and such
things; all of them declaring him to be a person.
Thirdly. He hath personal properties assigned unto him; as a will,
1 Cor. xii. 11, "He divideth to every man severally as he will;" and
understanding, 1 Cor. ii. 10, "The Spirit searcheth all things, yea,
the deep things of God;"— as also, all the actings that are ascribed
unto him are all of them such as undeniably affirm personal proper
ties in their principal and agent. For, —
Fourthly. He is the voluntary author of divine operations. He
of old cherished the creation, Gen. i. 2, "The Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters." He formed and garnished the heavens.
He inspired, acted, and spake, in and by the prophets, Acts xxviii
25," Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our
fathers;" 2 Pet i. 21, "The prophecy came not in old time by the

TRINITY VINDICATED. 408
will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost." He regenerateth, enUghteneth, sanctifieth, comforteth,
instructeth, leadeth, guideth, all the disciples of Christ, as the Scrip
tures everywhere testify. Now, all these are personal operations,
and cannot, with any pretence of sobriety or consistency with reason,
be constantly and uniformly assigned unto a quality or virtue. He
is, as the Father and Son, God, with the properties of omniscience
and omnipotency, of life, understanding, and will; and by these pro
perties, works, acts, and produceth effects, according to wisdom, choice,
and power.
Fifthly. The same regard is had to him in faith, worship, and
obedience, as unto the other persons of the Father and Son. For
our being baptized into his name, is our solemn engagement to be
lieve in him, to yield obedience to him, and to worship him, as it
puts the same obligation upon us to the Father and the Son. So also,
in reference unto the worship of the church, he commands that the
ministers of it be separated unto himself; Acts xiii. 2, "The Holy
Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto
I have called them;" verse 4, "So they, being sent forth by the
Holy Ghost, departed;" — which is comprehensive of all the religious
worship of the church.
And on the same account is he sinned against, as Acts v. 3, 4, 9 ;
for there is the same reason of sin and obedience. Against whom a
man may sin formally and ultimately, him he is bound to obey,
worship, and believe in. And this can be no quality, but God him
self. For what may be the sense of this expression, " Thou hast bed
to the efficacy of God in his operations?" or how can we be formally
obliged unto obedience to a quality? There must, then, an antecedent
obligation unto faith, trust, and religious obedience be supposed, as
the ground of rendering a person capable of being guilty of sin to
wards any; for sin is but a failure in faith, obedience, or worship.
These, therefore, are due unto the Holy Ghost; or a man could not
sin against him so signally and fatally as some are said to do in the
foregoing testimonies.
I say, therefore, unto this part of our cause, as unto the other, that
unless we will cast off all reverence of God, and, in a kind of atheism
which, as I suppose, the prevailing wickedness of this age hath not
yet arrived unto, say that the Scriptures were written on purpose to
deceive us, and to lead us into mistakes about, and misapprehensions
of, what it proposeth unto us, we must acknowledge the Holy Ghost
to be a' substance, a person, God; yet distinct from the Father and
the Son. For to tell us, that he will come unto us, that he will be
our comforter, that he will teach us, lead us, guide us ; that he spake
of old in and by the prophets, — that they were moved by him, acted

404 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
by him; that he "searcheth the deep things of God," works as he
will; that he appointeth to himself ministers in the church; — in a
word, to declare, in places innumerable, what he hath done, what he
doth, what he will do, what he says and speaks, how he acts and
proceeds, what his will is, and to warn us that we grieve him not,
sin not against him, with things innumerable of the like nature; and
all this while to oblige us to believe that he is not a person, a helper,
a comforter, a searcher, a wUler, but a quality in some especial ope
rations of God, or his power and virtue in them, were to distract men,
not to instruct them, and leave them no certain conclusion but this,
that there is nothing certain in the whole book of God. And of no
other tendency are these and the like imaginations of our adver
saries in this matter.
But let us briefly consider what is objected in general unto the
truth we have confirmed : —
They say, then, " The Holy Spirit is said to be given, to be sent,
to be bestowed on men, and to be promised unto them : and therefore
it cannot be that he should be God; for how can any of these things
be spoken of God ?"
I answer, First, As the expressions do not prove him to be God
(nor did ever any produce them to that purpose), yet they undeniably
prove him to be a person, or an intelligent, voluntary agent, con
cerning whom they are spoken and affirmed. For how can the power
of God, or a quality, as they speak, be said to be sent, to be given,
to be bestowed on men? So that these very expressions are de
structive to their imaginations.
Secondly. He who is God, equal in nature and being with the
Father, may be promised, sent, and given, with respect unto the holy
dispensation and condescension wherein he hath undertaken the
office of being our comforter and sanctifier.
Thirdly. The communications, distributions, impartings, divisions
of the Spirit, which they mention, as they respect the object of them,
or those on whom they were or are bestowed, denote -<only works,
gifts, operations, and effects of the Spirit ; the rule whereof is expressed,
1 Cor. xii. 11. He worketh them in whom he will, and as he wiU.
And whether these and the Hke exceptions, taken from actings and
operations which are plainly interpreted and explained in sundry
places of Scripture, and evidently enough in the particular places
where they are used, are sufficient to impeach the truth of the reve
lation before declared, all who have a due reverence of God, his
word, and truths, will easily understand and discern.
These things being declared in the Scripture concerning the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, it is, moreover, revealed, " And these
three are one;" that is, one God, jointly to. be worshipped, feared,

TRINITY VINDICATED. 405
adored, believed in, arid obeyed, in order unto eternal life. For
although this doth absolutely and necessarily follow from what is de
clared and hath been spoken concerning the one God, or oneness of
the Deity, yet, for the confirmation of our faith, and that we may not,
by the distinct consideration of the three be taken off from the one,
it is particularly declared that "these three are one;" that one, the
one and same God. But whereas, as was said before, this can no
otherwise be, the testimonies given thereunto are not so frequently
multiplied as they are unto those other heads of this truth, which,
through the craft of Satan, and the pride of men, might be more
liable to exceptions. But yet they are clear, full, and distinctly suffi
cient for faith to acquiesce in immediately, without any other expo
sitions, interpretations, or arguments, beyond our understanding' of
the naked importance of the words. Such are they, of the Father
[and] the Son, John x. 30, "I and my Father are one ;" — Father, Son,
and Spirit, 1 John v. 7, " There are three that bear record in heaven,
the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost ; and these three are one."
Matt, xxviii. 19, " Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." For if those into whose name we
are baptized be not one in nature, we are by our baptism engaged in
to the service and worship of more gods than one. For, as being bap
tized, or sacredly initiated, into or in the name of any one, doth sacra
mentally bind us unto a holy and religious obedience unto him, and
in all things to the avowing of him^as the God whose we are, and
whom we serve, as here we are in the name of the Father, Son, and
Spirit ; so if they are not one God, the blasphemous consequence be
fore mentioned must unavoidably be admitted : which it also must
upon the Socinian principle ; who, whilst of all others they seem to
contend most for one God, are indeed direct polytheists, by owning
others with religious respect, due to God alone, which are not so.
Once more : it is revealed, also, that these three are distinct among
themselves, by certain peculiar relative properties, if I may yet use
these terms. So that they are distinct, living, divine, intelligent,
voluntary principles of operation or working, and that in and by in
ternal acts one towards another, and in acts that outwardly respect
the creation and the several parts of it. Now, this distinction origi-
. nally lieth in this, — that the Father begetteth the Son, and the Son
is begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceedeth from both
of them. The manner of these things, so far as they may be ex
pressed unto our edification, shall afterwards be spoken to. At pre
sent it sufficeth, for the satisfaction and confirmation of our faith, that
the distinctions named are clearly revealed in the Scripture, and are
proposed to be its proper object in this matter: — Ps. ii. 7, " Thou art
my Son, this day have I begotten thee." Matt. xvi. 16, " Thou art

406 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
the Christ, the Son of the living God." John i 14, " We beheld his
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father." Verse 18,
" No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." John v. 26,
" For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son
to have life in himself." 1 John v. 20, " The Son of God is come,
and hath given us an understanding." John xv. 26, " But when the
Comforter, is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even
the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of me."
Now, as the nature of this distinction lies in their mutual relation
one to another, so it is the foundation of those distinct actings and
operations whereby the distinction itself is clearly manifested and
confirmed. And these actings, as was said, are either such as where
one of them is the object of another's actings, or such as have the
creature for their object. The first sort are testified unto, Ps. ex. 1 ;
Johni. 18, v. 20, xvii. 5; 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11; Prov. viii. 22 ; most of which
places have been before recited. They which thus know each other,
love each other, delight in each other, must needs be distinct; and so
are they represented unto our faith. And for the other sort of act
ings, the Scripture is full of the expressions of them. See Gen. xix. 24 ;
Zech. ii. 8; John v. 17; 1 Cor. xii. 7-11; 2 Cor. viii. 9.
Our conclusion from the whole is, — that there is nothing more fully
expressed in the Scripture than this sacred truth, that there is one
God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; which are divine, distinct, intel
ligent, voluntary, omnipotent principles of operation and working:
which whosoever thinks himself obliged to believe the Scripture
must believe; and concerning others, in this discourse, we are not
solicitous. This is that which was first proposed, — namely, to manifest what
is expressly revealed in the Scripture concerning God the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost ; so as that we may duly believe in him, yield
obedience unto him, enjoy communion with him, walk in his love
and fear, and so come at length to be blessed with him for evermore.
Nor doth faith, for its security, establishment, and direction, abso
lutely stand ih need of any farther exposition or explanation of these
things, or the use of any terms not consecrated to the present service
by the Holy Ghost. But whereas it may be variously assaulted by
the temptations of Satan, and opposed by the subtle sophisms of
men of corrupt minds; and whereas it is the duty of the disciples of
Christ to grow in the knowledge of God, and our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, by an explicit apprehension of the things they do be
lieve, so far as they are capable of them ; this doctrine hath in all
ages of the church been explained and taught in and by such ex-

TRINITY VINDICATED. 407
pressions, terms, and propositions, as farther declare what is neces
sarily included in it, or consequent unto it; with an exclusion of such
things, notions, and apprehensions, as are neither the one nor the
other. Tins' I shall briefly manifest, and then vindicate the whole
from some exceptions, and so close this dissertation.
[First] That God is one, was declared and proved. Now this one
ness can respect nothing but the nature, being, substance, or essence
of God. God is. one in this respect Some of these words, indeed,
are not used in the Scripture ; but whereas they are of the same im
portance and signification, and none of them include any thing of
imperfection, they are properly used in the declaration of the unity
of the Godhead. > There is mention in the Scripture of the Godhead
of God, Rom. i 20, " His eternal power and Godhead;" and of his
nature, by excluding them from being objects of our worship who
are not God by nature, Gal. iv. 8. Now, this natural Godhead of
God is his substance or essence, with all the holy, divine excellencies
which Aaturally and necessarily appertain thereunto. Such are eter
nity, immensity, omnipotency, life, infinite holiness, goodness, and
the like. This one nature,, substance, or essence, being the nature,
substance, or essence of God, as God, is the nature, essence, and sub
stance of the Father, Son, and Spirit; one and the same absolutely
in and unto each of them* for none can be God, as they are re
vealed to be, but by virtue of this divine nature or being. Herein
consists the unity of the Godhead.
Secondly. The distinction which the Scripture reveals between
Father, Son, and Spirit, is that whereby they are three hypostases or
persons, distinctly subsisting in the .same divine essence or being.
Now, a divine person is notbing but the divine essence, upon the ac
count cf an especial property, subsisting in an especial manner. As
in the person of the Father there is the divine essence and being,
with its property of begetting the Son, subsisting in an especial man
ner as the Father, and because this person hath the whole divine
nature, all the essential properties of that nature are in that person.
The wisdom, the understanding of God, the will of God, the immen
sity of God, is in that person, not as that person, but as the person is
God. The like is, to be said of the persons of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost. Hereby each person having the understanding, the will,
and power of God, becomes a distinct principle of operation; and yet
all- their actings ad extra being the actings of God, they are undi
vided, and are all the works of one, of the self-same God. And these
things do not only necessarily follow, but are directly included, in the
revelation made concerning God and his subsistence in the Scrip
tures. [Thirdly] There are, indeed, very many other things that are taught

408 THE DOCTRINE OF THE
and disputed about this doctrine of the Trinity; as, the manner of the
eternal generation of the Son, — of the essence of the Father, — of the
procession of the Holy Ghost, and the difference of it from the gene
ration of the Son,-— of the mutual in-being of the persons, by reason
of their unity in the same substance or essence, — the nature of their
personal subsistence, with respect unto the properties whereby they
are mutually distinguished ; — all which are true and defensible against
all the sophisms of the adversaries of this truth. Yet, because the
distinct apprehension of them, and their accurate expression, is not
necessary unto faith, as it is our guide and principle in and unto re
ligious worship and obedience, they need not here be insisted on.
Nor are those brief explications themselves before mentioned so pro
posed as to be placed immediately in the same rank or order with
the original revelations before insisted on, but only are pressed as
proper expressions of what is revealed, to increase our light and farther
our edification. And although they cannot rationally be opposed
or denied, nor ever were by any, but such as deny and oppose the
things themselves as revealed, yet they that do so deny or oppose
them, are to be required positively, in the first place, to deny or dis
approve the oneness of the Deity, or to prove that the Father, or Son,
or Holy Ghost, in particular, are not God, before they be allowed to
speak one word against the manner of the explication of the truth
concerning them. For either they grant the revelation declared and
contended for, or they do not. If they do, let that concession be first
laid down, namely, — that the Father, Son, and Spirit, are one God ;
and then let it be debated, whether they are one in substance and
three in persons, or how else the matter is to be stated. If they deny
it, it is a plain madness to dispute of the manner of any thing, and
the way of expressing it, whilst the thing itself is denied to have a
being; for of that which is not, there is neither manner, property,
adjunct, nor effect Let, then, such persons as this sort of men are
ready to attempt with their sophistry, and to amuse' with cavils about
persons, substances, subsistences, and the like, desire to know of them
what it is that they would be at. What would they deny? what
would they disapprove? Is it that God is one? or that the Father
is God, or the Son, or the Holy Ghost is so? If they deny or op
pose either of these, they have testimonies and instances of divine
revelation, or may have, in a readiness, to confound the devil and all
his emissaries. If they will not do so, if they refuse it, then let them
know that it is most fooUsh and unreasonable to contend about ex
pressions and explanations of any thing, or doctrine, about the man
ner, respects, or relations- of any thing, until the thing itself, or doc
trine, be plainly confessed or denied. If this they refuse, as generally
they do and will (vvhich I speak upon sufficient experience), and wiU

TRINITY VINDICATED. 40.9
not be induced to deal openly, properly, and rationally, but will keep
to their cavUs and sophisms about terms and expressions, all farther
debate or conference with them may justly, and ought, both con
scientiously and rationally, to be refused and rejected. For these
sacred mysteries of God and the gospel are not lightly to be made
the subject of men's contests and disputations.
But as we dealt before in particular, so here I shall give instances
of the sophistical exceptions that are used against the whole of this
doctrine, and that with respect unto some late collections and repre
sentations of them ; from whence they are taken up and used by many
who seem not to understand the words, phrases, and expressions them
selves, which they make use of.
The sum of what they say in general is, — 1. " How can these things
be? how can three be one, and one be three? Every person hath
its own substance; and, therefore, if there be three persons, there
must be three substances, and so three Gods."
Answer. Every person hath distinctly its own substance, for the
one substance of the Deity is the substance of each person, so it
is still but one ; but each person hath not its own distinct sub
stance, because the substance of them aU is the same, as hath been
proved. 2. They say, " That if each person be God, then each person is
infinite, and there being three persons, there must be three infinites."
Ans. This follows not in the least; for each person is infinite as he
is God. All divine properties, such as to be infinite is, belong not
to the persons on the account of their personality, but on the account
of their nature, which is one, for they are all natural properties.
3. But they say, " If each person be God, and that God subsist in
three persons, then in each person there are three persons or Gods."
Ans. The coUusion of this sophism consists in that expression, " be
God," and " that God." In the first place the nature of God is in
tended; in the latter, a singular person. Place the words intelligibly,
and they are thus: — If each person be God, and the nature of God
subsists in three persons, then in each person there are three persons;
and then the folly of it will be evident.
4. But they farther infer, " That if we deny ihe persons to be in
finite, then an infinite being hatha finite mode of subsisting, and so
1 know not what supposition they make hence; that seeing there are
not three infinites, then the Father, Son, and Spirit are three finites,
that make up an infinite'."
The pitiful weakness of this cavU is open to all; for finite and in
finite are properties and adjuncts of beings, and not of the manner
of the subsistence of any thing. The nature of each person is infinite,
and so is each person because of that nature. Of the manner of their

410 THE DOCTRINE OP THE
subsistence, finite and infinite cannot be predicated or spoken, no
farther than to say, an infinite being doth so subsist.
5. " But you grant," say they, " that ihe only true God is the Father,
and then if Christ be ihe only true God, he is ihe Father."
Ans. We say, the only true 'God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
We never say, the Scripture never says, that the Father only is the
true God; whence it would foUow, that he that is the true God is the
Father. But we grant the Father to be the only true God; and so
we say is the Son also. And it doth not at aU thence follow that the
Son is the Father; because, in saying the Father is the true God, we
respect not his paternity, or his paternal relation to his Son, but his
nature, essence, and being. And the same we affirm concerning the
other persons. And to say, that because each person is God, one
person must be another, is to crave leave to disbelieve what God hath
revealed, without giving any reason at all for their so doing.
But this sophism being borrowed from another, namely, Crellius,1
who insisted much upon it, I shall upon his account, and not on theirs,
who, as far as I can apprehend, understand little of the intendment
of it, remove it more fully out of the way. It is proposed by him in
way of syllogism, thus, " The only true God is the Father; Christ
is ihe only true God : therefore he is ihe Father." Now, this syUo-
gism is ridiculously sophistical. For, in a categorical syllogism the
major proposition is not to be particular, or equipoUent to a parti
cular ; for, from such a proposition, when any thing communicable
to more is the subject of it, and is restrained unto one particular, no
thing can be inferred in the conclusion. But such is this proposition
here, The only true God is the Father. It is a particular proposition,
wherein the subject is restrained unto a singular or individual predi
cate, though in itself communicable to more. Now, the proposition
being so made particular, the terms of the subject or predicate are
supposed reciprocal, — namely, that one God, and the Father, are the
same ; which is false, unless it be first proved that the name God is
communicable to no more, or no other, than is the other term of
Father: which to suppose, is to beg the whole question; for the
only true God hath a larger signification than the term of Father or
Soa So that, though the only true God be the Father, yet every
one who is true God is not the Father. Seeing, then, that the name
of God here supplies the place of a species, though it be singular ab-
•
1 John Crell is not to be confounded with Samuel Crell, also a Socinian writer,
who lived about a century later, and who seems to have been converted to the
faith of our Lord's divinity. The former was born in Frunconia in 1590. He
was rector of the University of Rakau in 1616. He had a controversy wilh
Grotius, and was recognised as a leader among the Socinians. He died 1633,
leaving behind him works that ocoupy four volumes in the " Bibliotheca Fratrum
Polonorum." — Ed.

TRINITY VINDICATED. 411
solutely, as it respects the divine nature, which is absolutely singular
and one, and cannot be multiplied, yet in respect of communication
it is otherwise ; it is communicated.unto more, — namely, to the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. And, therefore, if any thing be intended to
be concluded from hence, the proposition must be expressed accord
ing to what the subject requires, as capable of communication or
attribution to more than one, as thus : Whoever is the only true God
is the Father ;— which proposition these persons and their masters
shall never be able to prove.
I have given, in particular, these strictures thus briefly upon these
empty sophisms; partly because they are well removed already, and
partly because they are mere exscriptions out of an author not long
since translated intp English, unto whom an entire answer may ere
longibe returned.
That which at present shall suffice, is to give a general answer unto
all these cavils, with all of the same kind which the men of these
principles do usually insist upon.
1. " The things," they say, " which we teach concerning the Trinity,
are contrary to reason;" and thereof they endeavour to give sundry
instances, wherein the sum of the opposition which they make unto
this truth doth consist. But first, I ask, What reason is it that they
intend? It is their own, 'the carnal reason of men. By that they
'will judge of these divine mysteries. The Scripture tells us, indeed.
that the " spirit of a man which is in him knows the things of a
man," — a man's spirit, by natural reason, may judge of natural
things ; — " but the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of
God," 1 Cor. ii. 1 1. So that what we know of these things, we must
receive upon the revelation of the Spirit of God merely, if the apostle
may be believed. And it is given unto men to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of God, — to some, arid not to others ; and unless it
be so given them, they cannot know them. In particular, none can
know the Father unless the Son reveal him. Nor will, or doth, or
can, flesh and blood reveal or understand Jesus Christ to be the Son
of the living God, unless the Father reveal him, and instruct us in
the truth of it, Matt. xvi. 1 7. The way to come to the acknowledg
ment of these things, is that described by the apostle, Eph. iii. 14-19,
" For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be
strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man ; that Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith ; that ye, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints," etc. As also,
Col. ii. 2, 3, That ye might come " unto all riches of the fuU assurance
of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God,

412 THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY VINDICATED.
and of the Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge." It is by faith and prayer, and through the
revelation of God, that we may come to the acknowledgment of these
thing-s, and not by the carnal reasonings of men of corrupt minds.
2. What reason do they intend ? If reason absolutely, the reason
of things, we grant that nothing contrary unto it is to be admitted.
But reason as it is in this or that man, particularly in themselves,
we know to be weak, maimed, and imperfect; and that they are, and
all other men, extremely remote from a just and full comprehension
of the whole reason of things. Are they in such an estate as that .
their apprehension shall pass for the measure of the nature of all
things? We know they are far from it. So that though we will not
admit of any thing that is contrary to reason, yet the least intimation
of a truth by divine revelation will make me embrace it, although it
should be contrary to the reason of all the Socinians in the world.
Reason in the abstract, or the just measure of the answering of one
thing unto another, is of great moment: but reason — that is, what
is pretended to be so, or appears to be so unto this or that man,
especially in and about things of divine revelation — is of very small
importance (of none at all) where it riseth up against the express
testimonies of Scripture, and these multiplied, to their mutual con
firmation and explanation.
3. Many things are above reason, — that is, as considered in this or
that subject, as men, — which are not at aU against it. It is an easy
thing to compel the most curious inquirers of these days to a ready
confession hereof, by multitudes of instances in things finite and tem
porary ; and shaU any dare to deny but it may be so in things
heavenly, divine, and spiritual ? Nay, there is no concernment of
the being of God, or his properties, but is absolutely above the com
prehension of our reason. We- cannot by searching find out God, we
cannot find out the Almighty to perfection.
4. The very foundation of all their objections and cavils against
this truth, is destructive of as fundamental principles of reason as are
in the world. They are all, at best, reduced to this: It cannot bo
thus in things finite ; the same being cannot in one respect be one,
in another three, and the like: and therefore it is so in things infinite.
All these reasonings are built upon this supposition, that that which
i's finite can perfectly comprehend that which is infinite, — an assertion
absurd, foolish, and contradictory unto itself. Again ; it is the highest
reason in things of pure revelation to captivate our understandings
to the authority of the Revealer ; which here is rejected. So that by
a loud, specious, pretence of reason, these men, by a little captious
sophistry, endeavour not only to countenance their unbelief, but to
evert the greatest principles of reason itself.

OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 413
5. The objections these men principaUy insist upon, are merely
against the explanations we use of this doctrine, — not against the
primitive revelation of it, which is the principal object of our faith ;
which, how preposterous and irrational a course of proceeding it is,
hath been declared.
6. It is a rule among phUosophers, that if a man, on just grounds
and reasons, have embraced any opinion or persuasion, he is not to
desert it merely because he cannot answer every objection against it.
For if the objections wherewith we may be entangled be not of the
same weight and importance with the reason on which we embraced
the opinion, it is a madness to forego it on the account thereof. And
much more must this hold amongst the common sort of Christians,
in things spiritual and divine. If they will let go and part with
their faith in any truth, because tbey are not able to answer distinctly
some objections that may be made against it, they may quickly find
themselves disputed into atheism.
7. There is so great an intimation made of such an expression and
resemblance of a Trinity in unity in the very works of the creation,
as learned men have manifested by various instances, that it is most
unreasonable to suppose that to be contrary to reason which many
objects of rational consideration do more or less present unto our
minds. 8. To add no more considerations oAthis nature, let any of the
adversaries produce any one argument or grounds of reason, or those
pretended to be such, against that that hath been asserted, that hath
not already been baffled a thousand times, and it shall receive an
answer, or a public acknowledgment, that it is indissoluble.

OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST.
The next head of opposition made by the men of this conspiracy
against this sacred truth, is against the head of all truth, the person
of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Socinians, indeed, would willingly
put a better face or colour upon their error about the person of Christ
than it wUl bear or endure to Ue on it. For in their catechism, unto
this question, " Is the Lord Jesus Christ purus homo, a mere man?"
they answer, " By no means." " How then? hath he a divine nature
also ?" which is their next question. To this they say, " By no means ;
for this is contrary to right reason." How, then, will these pretended
masters of reason reconcUe these things ? for to us it seems, that if
Christ have no other nature but that of man, he is as to his nature
purus homo, a mere man, and no more. Why, they answer, that
" he is not a mere man, because he was bom of a virgin." Strange!

414 OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST.
that that should be an argument to prove him more than a man,
which the Scripture, and all men in their right wits, grant to- be an
invincible reason to prove him to be a man, and, as he was born of
her, no more. Rom. i. 3, " Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our
Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh."
Rom. ix. 5, " Whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the
flesh, Christ came." Gal. iv. 4, " God sent forth his Son, made of a
¦woman, made under the law." But, say they, " He was endowed
with the Spirit, wrought miracles, was raised from the dead, had all
power given [him] in heaven and earth ; for by these degrees he became
to be God." But all men see that the inquiry is about the nature of
Christ, and this answer is about his state and condition. Now this
changeth not his nature on the one hand, no more than Ms being
humbled, poor, and dying, did on the other. This is the right reason
we have to deal withal in these men ! If a man should have inquired
of some of them of old, whether Melchizedek were purus homo, a
mere -man, some of them would have said, " No, because he was the
Holy Ghost;" some, " No, because he was the Son of God himself;"
and some, " No, because he was an angel;" — for such fooUsh opinions
have men fallen into. But how sottisb soever their conceptions were,
their answer to that inquiry would have been regular, because the
question and answer respect the same subject in the same respect;
but never any was so stupid, as to answer, " He was not a mere man,
(that is, by nature,) because lie was a priest of the high God," — which
respects his office and condition. Yet, such is the pretence of these
men about the person of Christ, to incrustate and give some colour
unto their foul misbelief ; as supposing that it would be much to their
disadvantage to own Christ only as aimere man, — though the most
part of their disputes that they have troubled the Christian world
withal have had no other design nor aim but to prove him so to be,
and nothing else. I shall briefly, according to the method insisted
on, first lay down what is the direct revelation which is the object of
our faith in this matter, then express the revelation itself in the
Scripture testimonies wherein it is recorded ; and having vindicated
some one or other of them from their exceptions, manifest how the
doctrine hereof is farther explained, unto the edification of them that
believe. ¦ That there is a second person, the Son of God, in the holy trin-
unity oi the Godhead, we have proved before. That this person did, of
his infinite love and grace, take upon him our nature, — human nature,
— so as that the divine and human nature should become one person,
one Christ, God and man in one, so that whatever he doth in and about
our salvation, it is done by that one person, God and man, is revealed
unto us in the Scripture as the object of our faith: and this is that

OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 415
which we believe concerning the person of Christ. Whatever acts
aie ascribed unto him, however immediately performed, in or by the
human nature, or in and by his divine nature, they are all the acts
of that one person, in whom are both these natures. Tbat this
Christ, God and man, is, because he is God, and on the account of
what he hath done for us as man, to be believed in, worshipped
with worship religious and divine, to be trusted and obeyed, this also
is asserted in the Scripture. And these things are, as it were, the
common notions of Christian religion, — the common principles of our
profession, which the Scriptures also abundantly testify unto.
Isa vii. 14, " Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and
shall call his name Immanuel ;" that is, he shall be God -with us, or
God in our nature. Not that that should be his name whereby he
should be called in this world ; but that this should be the condition
of his person, — he should be " God with us," God in our nature. So
are the words expounded, Matt i. 20-23, " That which is conceived
in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and
thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their
sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shaU be
with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name
Emmanuel ; which, being interpreted, is, God with us." His name
whereby he was to be caUed, was Jesus; that is, a Saviour. And
thereby was accomplished the prediction of the prophet, that he should
be Immanuel; which, being interpreted, is, " God with us.'* Now, a
child born to be " God with us," is God in that child taking our
nature upon him ; and no otherwise can the words be understood.
Isa. ix. 6, " Unto us a chUd is born, unto us a son is given : and
his name shall be called The mighty God." The child that is born,
the son that is given, is the mighty God ; and as the mighty God,
and a child born, or son given, he is the Prince of Peace, as he is
there called, or our Saviour.
John i. 14, "The Word was made flesh." That the Word was
God, who made all things, he had before declared. Now, he affirms
that this Word was made flesh. How? converted into flesh, into a
man, so that he who was God ceased so to be, and was turned or
changed into flesh, — that is, a man? Besides that this is utterly im
possible, it is not affirmed. For the Word continued the Word still,
although he was " made flesh," or " made of a woman," as it is else
where expressed, — or made of the seed of David, — or took our flesh
or nature to be his own. Himself continuing God, as he was, became
man also, which before he was not. " The Word was made flesh;"
this is that which we believe and assert in this matter.
See John iii. 13, 31, vi 62, xvi. 28. All which places assert the

416 OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST.
person of Christ to have descended from heaven in the assumption of
human nature, and ascended into heaven therein [in that nature]
being assumed ; and to have been in heaven as to his divine nature,
when he was on the earth in the flesh that he had assumed.
Acts xx. 28, " Feed the church of God,1 which he hath purchased
with his own blood." The person spoken of is said to be God abso
lutely, — " the church of God." And this God is said to have blood of
his own ; — the blood of Jesus Christ, being the blood of him that was
God, though not the blood of him as God; for God is a spirit. And
this undeniably testifies to the unity of his person as God and man.
Rom. i. 3, 4, " Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was
made of the seed of David according to the flesh ; and declared to be
the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead." Rom. ix. 5, " Whose are the fathers,
and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ. came, who is over all,
God blessed for ever. Amen." This is all we desire that we may
believe without disturbance from the clamours of these men, — namely,
that the same Christ, as concerning the flesh, came of the fathers, of
David, and, in himself, is over all, God blessed for ever. This the
Scripture asserts plainly; and why we should not beUeve it firmly,
let these men give a reason when they are able.
Gal. iv. 4, " God sent -forth his Son made of a woman." He was
his Son, and was made of a woman, according as he expresses it
Heb. x. 5, " A body hast thou prepared me ;" as also, Rom. viii. 3.
Phil. ii. 5-7, " Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God : but made himself of no reputation, and took upon
him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men."
It is the same Christ that is spoken of. And it is here affirmed of
him, that he was " in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to
be equal with God." But is this all? Is this Jesus Christ God only?
doth he subsist only in the form or nature of God? No; saith the
apostle, " He took upon hiih the form of a servant, was made in the
Ukeness of men, and was found in fashion as a man." That his being
truly a man is expressed in these words our adversaries deny not;
and we therefore believe that the same Jesus Christ is God also, be
cause that is no less plainly expressed.
1 Tim. ni. 16, " And without controversy great is the mystery of
godliness: Goda was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen
1 It involves a critical discussion of long standing, whether Kvoiou or BuS is the
proper reading in this passage. By some recent editors of critical editions of the
Greek Testament — Scholz, for instance — emu is retained. Adhuc sub judice lis
est. — Ed.
' Since the days of Owen, this reading has been- the subject of protracted and
sifting discussion. At one time the current of opinion had set in against %i'n

OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST. 417
of angels." It is a mystery, indeed; under which name it is despised
now and reproached; nor are we aUowed so to call it, but are reflected
on as flying to mysteries for our defence. But we must take leave to
speak in this matter according to His directions without whom we
cannot speak at all. A mystery it is, and that a great mystery; and
that confessedly so, by aU that do believe. And this is, that " God
was manifested in tbe flesh." That it is the Lord Christ who i3
spoken of, every one of the ensuing expressions do evince : " Justi
fied in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed
on in the world, received up into glory." And this, also, is the sub
stance of what we believe in this matter, — namely, that Christ is God
manifest in the flesh ; which we acknowledge, own, and believe to be
true, but a great mystery, — yet no less great and sacred a truth not
withstanding. Heb. U. 14, " Forasmuch then as the chUdren are partakers of
flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same."
Verse 16, " For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but
he took on him the seed of Abraham." And this plainly affirms his
pre-existence unto that assumption of our nature, and the unity of his
person in it being so assumed.
1 John iii 16, " Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he
laid down his life for us." He who was God laid down for a season
and parted with that Ufe which was his own, in that nature of ours
which he had assumed. And that taking of our nature is called his
" coming in the flesh ;" which whoso denies, is " not of God, but is the
spirit of Antichrist," chap. iv. 3.
These are some of the places wherein the person of Christ is re
vealed unto our faith, that we may beUeve on the Son of God, and
have eternal life.
The method formerly proposed would require that I should take
off the general objections of the adversaries against this divine reve
lation, as also vindicate some peculiar testimonies from their excep
tions; but because a particular opposition unto this truth hath not,
as yet, publicly and directly been maintained and managed by any
that I know of among ourselves, though the denial of it be expressly
included in what they do affirm, I shall leave the farther confirma
tion thereof unto some other occasion, if it be offered, and it be
judged necessary.
And this is that which the faith of believers rests in, as that which
is plainly revealed unto them, — namely, that Jesus Christ is God and
man in one person; and that aU his actings in their behalf are the
as the reading, and the preference was given to of. The results of later criticism
decidedly converge in proof that the text as it stands in the received version is
correct. — Ed.
VOL. IL 27

418 OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST.
actings of him who is God and man; and that this Son of God, God
and man, is to be believed in by them, and obeyed, that they [may]
have eternal life.
What is farther added unto these express testimonies, and the full
revelation of the truth contained in them in this matter, in way of
explication educed from them, and suitable unto them, to the edifi
cation of the church, or information of the minds of beUevers in the
right apprehension of this great mystery of God manifested in the
flesh, may be reduced to these heads : —
1. That the person of the Son of God did not, in his assuming human
nature to be his own, take an individual person of any one into a
near conjunction with himself, but preventing the personal subsist
ence of human nature in that flesh which he assumed, he gave it its
subsistence in his own person; whence it hath its individuation and
distinction from aU other persons whatever. This is the personal union.
The divine and human nature in Christ have but one personal sub
sistence; and so are but one Christ, one distinct personal prmciple of
all operations, of all that he did or doth as mediator. And this un
deniably follows from what is declared in the testimonies mentioned.
For the Word could not be made flesh, nor could he take on him
the seed of Abraham, nor could the mighty God be a chUd born and
given unto us, nor could God shed his blood for his church, but that
the two natures so directly expressed must be united in one person;
for otherwise, as they are two natures still, they would be two per
sons also.
2. Each nature thus united in Christ is entire, and preserves unto
itself its own natural properties. For he is no less perfect God for
being made man; nor no less a true, perfect man, consisting of soul
and body, witb all their essential parts, by that nature's being taken
into subsistence with the Son of God. His divine nature still con
tinues immense, omniscient, omnipotent, infinite in hoUness, etc. ; his
human nature, finite, limited, and, before its glorification, subject to
all infirmities of life and death that the same nature in others, abso
lutely considered, is obnoxious unto.
3. In each of these natures he acts suitably unto the essential pro
perties and principles of that nature. As God, he made all things,
upholds aU things by the word of his power, fills heaven and earth,
etc. ; as man, he Uved, hungered, suffered, died, rose, ascended into
heaven: yet, by reason of the union of both these natures in the
same person, not only his own person is said to do all these things,
but the person expressed by the name which he hath on the account
of one nature, is said to do that which he did only in the other. So
God is said to " redeem his church with his own blood," and to " lay
down his life for us;" and the Son of man to be in heaven when he

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 419
was on the earth ; all because of the unity of his person, as was de
clared. And these things do all of them directly and undeniably
flow from what is revealed concerning his person, as before is de
clared. OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST.
The last thing to be inquired into, upon occasion of the late oppo
sition to the great fundamental truths of the gospel, is the satisfac
tion of Christ And the doctrine hereof is such as, I conceive, needs
rather to be explained than vindicated. For it being the centre
wherein most, if not aU, the lines of gospel promises and precepts
do meet, and the great medium of all our communion with God in
faith and obedience, the great distinction between the religion of
Christians and that, of all others in the world, it will easily, on a
due proposal, be assented unto by all who would be esteemed dis
ciples of Jesus Christ. And whether a parcel of insipid cavils may
be thougbt sufficient to obliterate the revelation of it, men of sober
minds will judge and discern.
For the term of satisfaction, we contend not about it. It doth,
indeed, properly express and connote that great effect of the death of
Christ which, in the cause before us, we plead for. But yet, be
cause it belongs rather to the explanation of the truth contended for,
than is used expressly in the revelation of it, and because the right
understanding of the word itself depends on some notions of law that
as yet we need not take into consideration, I shaU not, in this entrance
of our discourse, insist precisely upon it, but leave it as the natural
conclusion of what we shall find expressly declared in the Scripture.
Neither do I say this as though I did decUne the word, or the right
use of it, or what is properly signified by it, but do only cast it into its
proper place, answerable unto our method and design in the whole of
this brief discourse.
I know some have taken a new way of expressing and declaring
the doctrine concerning the mediation of Christ, with the causes and
ends of his death, which they think more rational than that usually
insisted on: but, as what I have yet heard of or seen in that kind,
hath been not only Unscriptural, but also very irrational, and most
remote from that accuracy whereunto they pretend who make use of
it; so, if they should pubUsh their conceptions, it is not improbable
but that they may meet with a scholastical examination by some
hand or other.
Our present work, as hath been often declared, is for the establish
ment of the faith of them who may be attempted, if not brought
into danger, to be seduced by the sleights of some who lie in wait to

420 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST.
deceive, and the clamours of others who openly drive the same de
sign. What, therefore, the Scripture plainly and clearly reveals iu
this matter, is the subject of our present inquiry. And either in so
doing, as occasion shall be offered, we shall obviate, or, in the close
of it remove, those sophisms that the sacred truth now proposed to
consideration hath been attempted withal.
The sum of what the Scripture reveals about this great truth, com
monly called the " satisfaction of Christ," may be reduced unto these
ensuing heads : —
First. That Adam, being made upright, sinned against God; and
all mankind, all his posterity, in him:— Gen. i. 27, " So God created
man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male
and female -created he them." Chap, iii 11, " And he said, Who told
thee that thou wast naked? hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I
commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" Eccles. vu. 29, " Lo,
this only have I found, that God made man upright ; but they have
sought out many inventions." Rom. v. ] 2, " Wherefore, as by one
man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that aU have sinned." Verse 18, " Therefore, as
by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation."
Verse 19, " By one man's disobedience many were made sinners."
Secondly. That, by this sin of our first parents, all men are brought
into an estate of sin and apostasy from God, and of enmity unto
him : — Gen. vi. 5, " God saw that the wickedness of man was great
in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart
was only evil continually." Ps. li. 5, " Behold, I was shapen in ini
quity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Rom. Ui. 23, " For
all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Chap. vui. 7,
" The carnal mind is enmity against God : for it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be." Eph. iv. 18, " Having the un
derstanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through
the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart,"
chap. ii. 1 ; Col. ii. 13.
Thirdly. That in this state all men continue in sin against God,
nor of themselves can do otherwise: — Rom. iii. 10-12, "There is
none righteous, no, not one : there is none that understandeth, there
is none that seeketh after God. They are aU gone out of the way,
they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good,
no, not one."
Fourthly, That the justice and holiness of God, as he is the
supreme governor and judge of all the world, require that sin be
punished: — Exod. xxxiv. 7, " That wiU by no means clear the guUty."
Josh. xxiv. 19, " He is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not
forgive your transgressions, nor your sins." Ps. v. 4-6, " For thou art

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 421
not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness : neither shall evil dwell
with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight : thou hatest all
workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing."
Hab. i. 13, " Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst
not look upon iniquity." Isa. xxxUi. 14, " Who among us shall dweU
with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting
burnings?" Rom. i 32, "-. Who knowing the judgment of God, that
they which commit such things are worthy of death." Chap. hi. 5, 6,
" Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) God
forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?" 2 Thess. i. 6, " It
is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that
trouble you." Heb. xii. 29, " For our God is a consuming fire;" from
Deut. iv. 24.
Fifthly. That God, hath also engaged his veracity and faithfulness
in the sanction of the law, not to leave sin unpunished : — Gen. ii. 1 7,
" In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Deut. xxvii.
26, " Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to
do them." In this state and condition, mankind, had they been left
without divine aid and help, must have perished eternally.
Sixthly. That God out of his infinite goodness, grace, and love to
mankind, sent his only Son to save and deliver them out of this
condition : — Matt. i. 21, " Thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall
save his people from their sins." Johnui. 16, 17, " God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever beUeveth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not
his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through him might be saved." Rom. v. 8, " God commendeth his
love toward us, in that, whUe we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
1 John iv. 9, " In this was manifested the love of God toward us,
because God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might
live through him." Verse 10, " Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for
our sins." 1 Thess. i. 10, " Even Jesus, which delivered us from the
wrath to come."
Seventhly. That this love was the same in Father and Son, acted
distinctly in the manner that shaU be afterward declared ; so; vain are
the pretences of men, who, from the love of the Father in this mat
ter, would argue against the love of the Son, or on the contrary.
Eighthly. That the way, in general, whereby the Son of God, being
incarnate, was to save lost sinners, was by a substitution of himself,
according to the design and appointment of God, in the room of
those whom he was to save : — 2 Cor. v. 21, " He hath made him to
be sin for us, who knew no sin ; that we might become the righteous
ness of God in him." Gal. iii. 13, " Christ hath redeemed us from

422 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST.
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Rom. v. 7, 8, " For
scarcely for a. righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love
toward us, ih that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Chap. viii. 3, " For what the law could not do, in that it was weak
through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us." 1 Pet. u. 24, " Who his own
self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." Chap, iii 18, " For
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he
might bring us to God." All these expressions undeniably evince a
substitution of Christ as .to suffering in the stead of them whom he
was to save; which, in general, is all that we intend by his satisfaction,
—namely, that he was made " sin for us," a " curse for us," " died
for us," that is; in our stead, that we might be saved from the wrath
to come. And all these expressions, as to their true, genuine import
ance, shall be vindicated as occasion shall require.
Ninthly. This way of his saving sinners is, in particular, several
ways expressed in the Scripture. As, —
1. That he offered himself a sacrifice to God, to make atonement
for our sins; and that in his death and sufferings: — Isa. lni 10,
" When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin." John i 29,
'• Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world."
Eph. v. 2, " Christ hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an
offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smeUing savour." Heb.
ii. 1 7, Was " a merciful high priest in things pertaining to God, to
make reconciliation for the sins of th e people." Chap. ix. 11-14," But
Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not
of this buUding ; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his
own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls," etc., " how-
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your consciences from
dead works ?"
2. That he redeemed us by paying a price, a ransom, for our re
demption : — Mark x. 45, " The Son of man came to give his life a
ransom for many." 1 Cor. vi 20, vii. 23, " For ye are bought with a
price." 1 Tim. ii 6, " Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be
testified in due time." Tit. ii. 1 4, " Who gave himself for us, that
he might redeem us from all iniquity." 1 Pet. i. 18, 19, " For ye
were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold ; but
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot."

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 423
3. That he bare our sins, or the punishment due unto them :— Isa.
liii. 5, 6, " He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for
our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with
his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray ; we
have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all." Verse 11, " For he shall bear their iniqui
ties." 1 Pet. U. 24, " Who his own self bare our sins in his own
body on the tree."
4. That he answered the law and the penalty of it: — Rom. vUi.
3, 4, " God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that'the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us." Gal. iii. 13, " Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Chap. iv. 4, 5,
" God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to
redeem them that were under the law."
5. That he died for sin, and sinners, to expiate the one, and in
the stead of the other: — Rom. iv. 25, "He was delivered for our
offences." Chap. v. 10, " When we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God by the death of his Son." 1 Cor.xv. 3, " Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures." 2 Cor. v. 14, " For the love of
Christ constraineth us ; because we thus judge, that if one died for aU,
then were all dead," 1 Thess. v. 9, 10.
6. Hence, on the part of God it is affirmed, that " he spared him
not, but delivered him up for us all," Rom. viii 32 ; and caused " all
our iniquities to meet upon him," Isa. liii 6.
7. The effect hereof was, —
(1.) That the righteousness of God was glorified. Rom. iu. 25, 26,
" Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his
blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins." (2.)
The law fulfilled and satisfied, as in the places before quoted, chap.
vin. 3, 4; Gal. Ui. 13, iv. 4, 5. (3.) God reconciled. 2 Cor. v.
18, 19, " God was in Christ reconcUing the world unto himself, not
imputing their trespasses unto them." Heb. ii 17, "He made re
conciliation for the sins of the people." (4.) Atonement was made
for sin. Rom. v. 1 1 , "By whom we have now received the atonement ; "
and peace was made with God. Eph. u. 14, 16, " For he is our peace,
who hath made both one,  that he might reconcUe both unto God
in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." (5.) [He]
made an end of sin. Dan. ix. 24, " To finish the transgression, and to
make an end of sins, and to make reconcUiation for iniquity, and to
bring in everlasting righteousness." The glory of God ih all these
things being exalted, himself was well pleased, righteousness and ever
lasting redemption, or salvation, purchased for sinners. Heb. ix. 14,
For in that " the chastisement of our peace was upon him," and that

424 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST.
"by his stripes we are healed," he being punished that we might go
free, himself became a captain of salvation unto all that do obey him.
I have fixed on these' particulars, to give every ordinary reader an
instance how fully and plainly what he is to believe in this matter
is revealed in the Scripture. And should I produce all the testi
monies which expressly give witness unto these positions, it is known
how great a part of the Bible must be transcribed. And these are
the things which are indispensably required of us to believe, that we
may be able to direct and regulate our obedience according to the
mind and wUl of God. In the explanation of this doctrine unto
farther edification, sundry things are usuaUy insisted on, which ne
cessarily and infallibly ensue upon'the propositions of Scripture before
laid down, and serve to beget in the minds of believers a due appre
hension and right understanding of them ; as, —
1. That God in this matter is to be considered as the chief, supreme,
absolute rector and governor of all, — as the Lord of the law, and of
sinners; but yet so as an offended ruler: not as an offended person,
but as an offended ruler, who hath right to exact punishment upon
transgressors, and whose righteousness of rule requires that he should
so do
2. That because he is righteous and holy, as he is the supreme
Judge of all the world, it is necessary that he do right in the punish
ing of sin ; without which the order of the creation cannot be pre
served. For sin being the creature's deduction of itself from the
order of its dependence upon, and obedience unto, the Creator and
supreme Lord of all, without a reduction of it by punishment, confu
sion would be brought into the whole creation.
3. That whereas the law, and the sanction of it, is the moral or
declarative cause of the punishment of sin, and it directly obligeth
the sinner himself unto punishment; God, as the supreme ruler, dis-
penseth, not with the act of the law, but the immediate object, and
substitutes another sufferer in the room of them who are principally
liable unto the sentence of it, and are now to be acquitted of freed ; —
that so the law may be satisfied, requiring the punishment of sin ;
justice exalted, whereof the law is an effect; and yet the sinner saved.
4. That the person thus substituted was the Son of God incarnate,
who had power so to dispose of himself, with wUl and readiness for
it; and was, upon the account of the dignity of his person, able to
answer the penalty which all others had incurred and deserved.
5. That God, upon his voluntary susception o/this office, and con
descension to this work, did so lay our sins, in and by the sentence
of the law, upon him, that he made therein full satisfaction for what
ever legally could be charged on them for whom he died or suffered.
6. That the special way, terms, ahd conditions, whereby and

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 425
wherein sinners may be interested in this satisfaction made by Christ,
are determined by the will of God, and declared in the Scripture.
These, and the like things, are usually insisted on in the explica
tion or declaration of this head of our confession; and there is not
any qf them but may be sufficiently confirmed by divine testimonies.
It may also be farther evinced, that there is nothing asserted in them,
but what is excellently suited unto the common notions which man
kind hath of God and his righteousness ; and that in their practice
they answer the light of nature and common reason, exemplified in
sundry instances among the nations of the world.
I shall therefore take one argument1 from some of the testimonies
before produced in the confirmation of this sacred truth, and proceed
to remove the objections that are commonly bandied against it.
If the Lord Christ, according to the will of the Father, and by his
own counsel and choice, was substituted, and did substitute himself,
as the mediator of the covenant, in the room and in the stead of
sinners, that they might be saved, and therein bare their sins, or the
punishment due unto their sins, by undergoing the curse and penalty
of the law, and therein also, according to the will of God, offered up
himself for a propitiatory, expiatory sacrifice, to make atonement for
sin, and reconciliation for sinners, that the justice of God being ap
peased, and the law fulfiUed, they might go free, or be delivered from
the wrath to come; and if therein, also, he paid a real satisfactory
price for their redemption; then he made satisfaction to God for sin:
for these are the things that we intend by that expression of satis
faction. But now all these things are openly and fully witnessed
unto in the testimonies before produced, as may be observed by suit
ing some of them unto the several particulars here asserted: —
As, 1. What was done in this matter, was from the will, purpose,
and love of God the Father, Ps. xl. 6-8; Heb. x. 5-7; Acts iv. 28;
John iii. 16; Rom. viii 3.
2. It was also done by his own voluntary consent, Phil, ii 6-8.
3. He was substituted, and did substitute himseff, as the mediator
of the covenant, in the room and stead of smners, that they may be
saved, Heb. x. 5-7, vii. 22; Rom. ui. 25, 26, v. 7, 8. _
4. And he did therein bear their sins, or the punishment due to
their sins, Isa. Un. 6, 11 ; 1 Pet. ii 24. And this —
5. By undergoing the curse and penalty of the law, Gal. iii. 13;
or the punishment of sin required by the law, 2 Cor. v. 21; Rom.
vui. 3.
6. Herein, also, according to the wiU of God, he offered up him
self a propitiatory and expiatory sacrifice, to make atonement for sin
and reconcUiation for sinners, Eph. v. 6; Rom. v. 6; Heb. ix.
11-14;— which he did, that the justice of God being satisfied, and

426 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST.
the law fulfilled, sinners might be freed from the wrath to come,
Rom. iii 25; 1 Thess. i. 10.
7. And hereby also he paid a real price of redemption for sin and
sinners, 1 Pet. i 18, 19 ; 1 Cor. vi 20. These are the things which
we are to beUeve concerning the satisfaction of Christ. And our ex-
pUcation of this doctrine we are ready to defend when caUed there
unto. The consideration of the objections which are raised against this
great fundamental truth shall close this discourse. And they are of
two sorts : — First, In general, to the whole doctrine, as declared, or
some of the more signal heads or parts of it. Secondly, Particular
instances in this or that supposal, as consequences of the doctrine as
serted. And, in general, —
First, they say, " This is contrary to, and inconsistent with, the
love, grace, mercy, and goodness of God, which are so celebrated in
the Scripture as the principal properties of his nature and acts of
his will wherein he will be glorified; — especially contrary to the
freedom of forgiveness, which we are encouraged to expect, and
commanded to believe." And this exception they endeavour to firm
by testimonies that the Lord is good and gracious, and that he doth
freely forgive us our sins and trespasses.
Ans. 1. I readUy grant that whatever is really contrary to the
grace, goodness, and mercy of God, whatever is inconsistent with the
free forgiveness of sin, is not to be admitted; for these things are
fully revealed in the Scripture, and must have a consistency with
whatever else is therein revealed of God or his wiU.
2. As God is good, and gracious, and merciful, so also he is holy,
righteous, true, and faithful. And these things are no less revealed
concerning him than the others ; and are no less essential properties
of his nature than his goodness and grace. And as they are all es
sentially the same in bim, and considered only under a different
habitude or respect, as they are exerted by acts of bis'wUl; so it be
longs to his infinite wisdom, that the effects of them, though divers,
and produced by divers ways and means, may no way be contrary
one to the other, but that mercy be exercised without the prejudice
of justice or holiness, and justice be preserved entire, without any
obstruction to the exercise of mercy.
3. Tbe grace and love of God, that in this matter the Scripture re
veals to be exercised in order unto the forgiveness of sinners, con
sists principally in two things: — (1.) In his holy eternal purpose of
providing a relief for lost sinners. He hath done it, " to the praise of
the glory of his grace," Eph. i 6. (2.) In the sending his Son in the
pursuit and for the accomplishment of the holy purpose of his wiU
and grace. Herein most eminently doth the Scripture celebrate the

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 427
love, goodness, and kindness of God, as that whereby, in infinite
and for ever to be adored wisdom and grace, he made way for the
forgiveness of our sins. John ui. 16, " God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son." Rom. iii. 25, "Whom God hath set
forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood." Rom. v. 8,
" God commendeth his love toward us, in that, whUe we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us." Tit. iU. 4; 1 John iv. 9, 10. Herein
consists that ever to be adored love, goodness, grace, mercy, and con
descension of God. Add hereunto, that, in the act of causing our
iniquities to meet on Christ, wherein he immediately intended the
declaration of his justice, Rom iii. 25, — " not sparing him, in deUver
ing him up to death for us all," Rom. vUi 32, — there was a blessed
harmony in the highest justice and most excellent grace and mercy.
This grace, this goodness, this love of God towards mankind, towards
sinners, our. adversaries in this matter neither know nor understand;
and so, indeed, what lies in them, remove the foundation of the whole
gospel, and of aU that faith and obedience which God requires at
our hands.
4. Forgiveness, or the actual condonation of sinners, the pardon
and forgiveness of sins, is free; but yet so as it is everywhere re
strained unto a respect unto Christ, unto his death and blood-shed
ding. Eph. i. 7, "We have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of sins." Chap. iv. 32, " God for Christ's sake hath
forgiven you." Rom. iU. 25, 26, " God hath set him forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins." It is absolutely free in respect of all
immediate transactions between God and sinners.
(1.) Free on the part of God.
[1.] In the eternal purpose of it, when he might justly have suf
fered all men tq have perished under the guilt of their sins. [2.]
Free in the means that he used to effect it, unto his glory. 1st In
the sending of his Son; and, 2dly. In laying the punishment of our
sin upon him. 3dly. In his covenant with him, that it should be
accepted on our behalf. 4thly. In his tender and proposal of it by
the gospel unto sinners, to be received without money or without
price. 5thly. In the actual condonation and pardon of them that do
believe. (2.) It is free on the part of the persons that are forgiven ; in that,
[l.j It is given and granted to them, without any satisfaction made
by them for their former transgressions. [2.] Without any merit to
purchase or procure it. [3.] Without any penal, satisfactory suffering
here, qr in a purgatory hereafter. [4.] Without any expectation of a
future recompense ; or that, being pardoned, they should then make
or give any satisfaction for what they had done before. And as any

428 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. •
of these things would, so nothing else can, impeach the freedom oi
pardon and forgiveness. Whether, then, we respect the pardoner or
the pardoned, pardon is every way free, — namely, on the part of God
who forgives, and on the part of sinners that are forgiven. If God
now hath, besides all this, provided himself a lamb for a sacrifice; if
he hath, in infinite wisdom and grace, found out a way thus freely
to forgive us our sins, to the praise and glory of his own hoUness,
righteousness, and severity against sin, as well as unto the unspeak
able advancement of that grace, goodness, and bounty which he im
mediately exerciseth in the pardon of sin; are these men's eyes evU,
because he is good ? WUl they not be contented to be pardoned,
unless they may have it at the rate of despoiling God of his holiness,
truth, righteousness, and faithfulness? And as this is certainly done
by that way of pardon which these men propose, no reserve in the
least being made for the glory of God in those holy properties of his
nature which are immediately injured and opposed by sin; so that
pardon itself, which they pretend so to magnify, having nothing to
influence it but a mere arbitrary act of God's will, is utterly de
based from its own proper worth and excellency. And I shall will
ingly undertake to manifest that they derogate no less from grace
and mercy in pardon, than they do from the righteousness and holi
ness of God, by the forgiveness which they have feigned ; and that in
it both of them are perverted and despoiled of all their glory.
But they yet say, " If God can freely pardon sin, why doth he
not do it without satisfaction? If he cannot, he is weaker and
more imperfect than man, who can do so."
Ans. 1. God cannot do many things that men can do; — not that
he is more imperfect than they, but he cannot do them on the ac
count of his perfection. He cannot lie, he cannot deny himself, he
cannot change ; which men can do, and do every day.
2. To pardon sin without satisfaction, in him who is absolutely
holy, righteous, true, and faithful, — the absolute, necessary, supreme
Governor of all sinners, — the author of the law, and sanction of it,
wherein punishment is threatened and declared, — is to deny himself,
and to do what one infinitely perfect cannot do.
3. I ask of these men, why God doth not pardon sins freely, with
out requiring faith, repentance, and obedience in them that are par
doned; yea, as the conditions on which they may be pardoned? For,
seeing he is so infinitely good and gracious, cannot he pardon men with
out prescribing such terms and conditions unto them as he knoweth
that men, and that incomparably the greatest number of them, wiU
never come up unto, and so must of necessity perish for ever?. Yea
but they say; " This cannot be : neither doth this impeach the freedom
of pardon; for it is certain that God doth prescribe these things, and

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 429
yet he pardoneth/reeZy; and it would altogether unbecome the holy
God to pardon sinners that continue so to Uve and die in their sins."
But do not these men see that they have hereby given away their
cause which they contend for? For, if a prescription of sundry things
to the sinner himself, without which he shall not be pardoned, do not
- at all impeach, as they say, the freedom of pardon, but God may be
said freely to pardon sin notwithstanding it ; how shaU the receiving
of satisfaction by another, nothing at all being required of the sinner,
have the least appearance of any such thing? If the freedom of for
giveness consists in such a boundless notion as these men imagine, it
is certain that the prescribing of faith and repentance in and unto
sinners, antecedently to their participation of it, is much more evi
dently contrary unto it, than the receiving of satisfaction from another
who is not to be pardoned can to any appear to be. Secondly, if it
be contrary to the hoUness of God to pardon any without requiring
faith, repentance, and obedience in them (as it is indeed), let not these
persons be offended if we beUeve him when he so frequently declares
it, that it was so to remit sin, without the fulfilling of his law and
satisfaction of his justice.
Secondly, they say, " There is no such thing as justice in God re
quiring the punishment of sin; but that that which in him requireth
and calleth for the punishment of sin is his anger and wrath ; which
expressions denote free acts of his will, and not any essential pro
perties of his nature." So that God may punish sin or not punish
it, at his pleasure ; therefore there is no reason that he should require
any satisfaction for sin, seeing he may pass it by absolutely as he
pleaseth. Ans. 1. Is it not strange, that the great Governor, the Judge of
all the world, which, on the supposition of the creation of it, God is
naturally and necessarUy, should not also naturaUy be so righteous
as to do right, in rendering unto every one according to his works?
2. The sanction and penalty of the law, which is the rule of
punishment, was, I suppose, an effect of justice, — of God's natural
and essential justice, and not of bis anger or wrath. Certainly, never
did any man make a law for the government of a people in anger.
Draco's laws were not made in wrath, but according to the best
apprehension of right and justice that he had, though said to be
written in blood ; and shaU we think otherwise of the law of God?
3. Anger and wrath in God express the effects of justice, and so
are not merely free acts of his wiU. This, therefore, is a tottering
cause, that is built on the denial of God's essential righteousness.
But it was proved before, and it is so elsewhere.
Thirdly, they say, " That the sacrifice of Christ was only meta
phorically so," — that he was a metaphorical priest, not one properly

430 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST.
so called ; and, therefore, that his sacrifice did not consist in his death
and blood-shedding, but in his appearing in heaven upon his ascen
sion, presenting himself unto God in the most holy place not made
with hands as the mediator of the new. covenant.
Ans. 1. When once these men come to this evasion, they think
themselves safe, and that they may go whither they wUl without
control. For they say it is true, Christ was a priest; but only he was
a metaphorical one. He offered sacrifice; but it was a metaphorical
one. He redeemed us ; but with a metaphorical redemption. And so
we are justified thereon ; but with a metaphorical justification. And
so, for aught I know, they are like to be saved with a metaphorical
salvation. This is the substance of their plea in this matter i — .Christ
was not really a priest; but did somewhat Uke a priest. He offered
not sacrifice really ; but did somewhat that was like a sacrifice. He
redeemed us not really; but did somewhat that looked Uke redemp
tion. And what these things are, wherein their analogy consisteth,
what proportion the things that Christ hath done bear to the things
that are really So, from whence they receive their denomination, it is
meet it should be wholly in the power of these persons to declare.
But,— 2. What should hinder the death of Christ to be a sacrifice, a
proper sacrifice, and, according to the nature, end, and use of sacri
fices, to have made atonement and satisfaction for sin? (1.) It is
expressly called so in the Scripture; wherein he is said to "offer
himself, to make his soul an offering, to offer himseff a sacrifice,"
Eph. v. 2; Heb. i. 3, ix. 14, 25, 26, vii. 27. And he is himself di
rectly said to be a "priest," or a sacrificer, Heb. ii 17. And it is
nowhere intimated, much less expressed, that these things are not
spoken properly, but metaphoricaUy only. (2.) The legal sacrifices
of the old law were instituted on purpose to represent and prepare
the way for the bringing in of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, so
to take away the sin of the world; and is it not strange, that true
and real sacrifices should be types and representations of that which
was not so? On this supposition, all those sacrifices are but so many
seductions from the right understanding of things between God and
sinners. (3.) Nothing is wanting to render it a proper propitiatory
sacrifice. For,— [1.] There was the person offering, and that was
Christ himself, Heb. ix. 14, " He offered himself unto God." " He,"
that is, the sacrificer, denotes the person of Christ, God and man;
and " himself," as the sacrifice, denotes his human nature • whence God
is said to " purchase his church with his own blood," Acts xx. 28 ;
for he offered himself through the eternal Spirit: so that, — [2.] There
was the matter of the sacrifice, which was the human nature of
Christ, soul and body. " His soul was made an offering for sin,"

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 431
Isa. liii. 10 ; and his body, " The offering of the body of Jesus Christ,"
Heb. x. 10, — his blood especially, which is often synecdochically men
tioned for the whole. (4.) His death had the nature of a sacrifice:
for, — [1.] Therein were the sips of men laid upon him, and not in his
entrance into heaven ; for " he bare our sins in his own body on the
tree," 1 Pet. ii. 24. God made our sins then " to meet upon him,"
Isa. UU. 6 ; which gives the formality unto any sacrifices. " Quod in
ejus caput sit," is the formal reason of all propitiatory sacrifices, and
, ever was so, as is expressly declared, Lev. xvi. 21, 22 ; and the phrase
of " bearing sin," of " bearing iniquity," is constantly used for the
undergoing of the punishment due to sin. [2.] It had the end of a
proper sacrifice ; it made expiation of sin, propitiation and atonement
for sin, with reconcUiation with God ; and so took away that enmity
that was between God and sinners, Heb. i. 3; Rom. iii. 25," 26;
Heb. ii. 17, 18, v. 10; Rom. viii. 3; 2 Cor. v. 18, 19. And although
God himself designed, appointed, and contrived, in wisdom, this way
of reconciliation, as he did the means for the atonmg of his own anger
towards the friends of Job, commanding them to go unto him, and
with him offer sacrifices for themselves, which he would accept, chap.
xiii. 7, 8 ; yet, as he was the supreme Governor, the Lord of aU, at
tended with infinite justice and hoUness, atonement was made with
him, and satisfaction to him thereby.
What hath been spoken may suffice to discover the emptiness and
weakness of those exceptions which in general these men make against
the truth before laid down from the Scripture. A brief examination
of some particular instances, wherein they seek not so much to oppose
as to reproach the revelation of this mystery of the gospel, shall put
a close to this discourse. It is said, then, —
First, " That if this be so, then it will follow that God is gracious
to forgive, and yet [it is] impossible for him, unless the debt be fully
satisfied." •Ans. 1. I suppose the confused and abrupt expression of things
here, in words scarcely affording a tolerable sense, is rather from
weakness than captiousness; and so I shall let the manner of the
proposal pass. 2. What if this should foUow, that God is gracious
to forgive sinners, and yet will not, cannot, on the account of his own
holiness and righteousness, actually forgive any, without satisfaction
and atonement made for sin? the worst that can be hence concluded
is, that the Scripture is true, which affirms both these in many places.
3. This sets out the exceeding greatness of the grace of God in for
giveness, that when sin could not be forgiven without satisfaction,
and the sinner himself could no way make any such satisfaction, he
provided himself a sacrifice of atonement, that the sinner might be
discharged and pardoned. 4. Sin is not properly a debt, for then it

432 . OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST.
might be paid in kind, by sin itself; but is caUed so only because it
binds over the sinner to punishment, which is the satisfaction to be
made for that which is properly a transgression, and improperly only
a debt. It is added, —
Secondly, " Hence it follows, that the finite and impotent creature
is more capable of extending mercy and forgiveness than the infinite
and omnipotent Creator."
Ans. 1. God being essentially holy and righteous, having engaged
his faithfulness in the sanction of the law, and being naturally and
necessarily the governor and ruler of the world, the forgiving of sin
without satisfaction would be no perfection in him, but an effect of
impotency and imperfection, — a thing which God cannot do, as he
cannot lie, nor deny himself. 2. The direct contrary of what is in
sinuated is asserted by this doctrine; for, on the supposition of the
satisfaction and atonement insisted on, not only doth God freely for
give, but that in such a way of righteousness and goodness, as no
creature is able to conceive or express the glory and excellency of it
And to speak of the poor having pardons of private men, upon par
ticular offences against themselves, who are commanded so to do,
and have no right nor authority to require or exact punishment, nor
is any due upon the mere account of their own concernment, in com
parison with the forgiveness of God, ariseth out of a deep ignorance
of the whole matter under consideration.
Thirdly. It is added by them, that hence it foUows, " That God so
loved the world, that he gave his only Son to save it; and yet' that
God stood off in high displeasure, and Christ gave himself as a com
plete satisfaction to offended justice."
Ans. Something these men would say, if they knew what or
how; for, — 1. That God so loved the world as to give his only Son
to save it, is the expression of the Scripture, and the foundation of
the doctrine whose truth we contend for. 2. That Christ offered him
self to make atonement for sinners, and therein made satisfaction to
the justice of God, is the doctrine itself which these men oppose, and
not any consequent of it. 3. That God stood off in high displeasure,
is an expression which neither the Scripture useth, nor those who
declare this doctrine from thence, nor is suited unto divine perfections,
or the manner of divine operations. That intended seems to be,
that the righteousness and law of God required the punishment due
to sin to be undergone, and thereby satisfaction to be made unto God ;
which is no consequent of the doctrine, but the doctrine itself.
Fourthly. It is yet farther objected, " That if Christ made satis
faction for sin, then he did it either as God or as man, or as God
and man."
Ans. 1. As God and man. Acts xx. 28, "God redeemed his

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 433
church with his own blood." 1 John iu. 1 6, " Hereby perceive we
the love of God, because he laid down his life for us." Heb. ix. 14.
2. This dUemma is proposed, as that which proceeds on a supposition
of our own principles, that Christ is God and man in one person:
which, indeed, makes the pretended difficulty to be vain, and a mere
effect of ignorance; for all the mediatory acts of Christ being the acts
of his person, must of necessity be the acts of him as God and man.
3. There is yet another mistake in this inquiry; for satisfaction is. in
it looked on as a real act or operation of one or the ¦ other nature in
Christ, when it is the apotelesma or effect of the actings, the doing
and suffering of Christ — the dignity of what he did in reference unto
the end for which he did it. For the two natures are so united in
Christ as not to have a third compound principle of physical acts and
operations thence arising; but each nature acts distinctly, according
to its own being and properties, yet so as what is the immediate act
of either nature is the act of him who is one in both ; from whence it
hath its dignity. 4. The sum is, that in all the mediatory actions of
Christ we are to consider, — (1.) The agent; and that is the person of
Christ. (2.) The immediate principle by which and from which the
agent worketh; and that is the natures in the person. (3.) The ac
tions; which are the effectual operations of either nature. (4.) The
effect or work with respect to God and us; and this relates unto the
person of the agent, the Lord Christ, God and man. A blending of
the natures into one common principle of operation, as the compound
ing of mediums unto one end, is ridiculously supposed in this matter.
But yet, again; it is pretended that sundry consequences, irreli
gious and irrational, do ensue upon a supposition of the satisfaction
pleaded for. What, then, are they?
First " That it is unlawful and impossible for God Almighty to
be gracious and merciful, or to pardon transgressors."
Ans. The miserable, confused misapprehension of things which the
proposal of this and the like consequences doth evidence, manifests
sufficiently how unfit the makers of them are to manage controversies
of this nature. For, — 1. It is supposed that for God to be gracious
and merciful, or to pardon sinners, are the same; which is to con
found the essential properties of his nature with the free acts of his
wUl. 2. Lawful or unlawful, are terms that can with no tolerable
sense be used concerning any properties of God, aU which are natural
and necessary unto his being; as goodness, grace, and mercy, in par
ticular, are. 3. That it is impossible for God to pardon transgres
sors, according to this doctrine, is a fond imagination; for it is only
a declaration of the manner how he doth it 4. As God is gracious
and merciful, so also he is holy, and righteous, and true; and it be
came him, or was every way meet for him, in his way of exercising
VOL. II. 28

434 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST.
grace and mercy towards sinners, to order all things so, as that it
might be done without the impeachment of his holmess, righteous
ness, and truth. It is said, again, —
Secondly, " That God was inevitably compelled to this way of
saving men; — the highest affront to his uncontrollable nature."
Ans. 1. Were the authors of these exceptions put to declare what
.they mean by God's " uncontrollable nature," they would hardly dis
entangle themselves with common sense ; such masters of reason are
they, indeed, whatever they would fain pretend to be. Controllable
or uncontrollable, respects actings and operations, not beings or na
tures. 2. Tha#, upon the principle opposed by these men, God was
inevitably compelled to this way of saving men, is a fond and chUdish
imagination. The whole business of the salvation of men, according
unto this doctrine, depends on a mere free, sovereign act of God's
will, exerting itself in a way of infinite wisdom, holmess, and grace.
3. The meaning of this objection (if it hath either sense or mean
ing in it) is, that God, freely purposing to save lost sinners, did it in
a way becoming his holy nature and righteous law. What other
course Infinite Wisdom could have taken for the satisfaction of his
justice we know not; — that justice was to be satisfied, and that this
way it is done we know and beUeve.
Thirdly. They say it hence follows, " That it is unworthy of God
to pardon, but not to inflict punishment on the innocent, or require
a satisfaction where there was nothing due."
Ans. 1. What is worthy or unworthy of God, himself alone knows,
and of men not any, but according .to what he is pleased to declare
and reveal; but, certamly, it is unworthy any person, pretending to
the least interest in ingenuity or use of reason, to use such frivolous
instances in any case of importance, which have not the least pretence
of argument in them, but what ariseth from a gross misapprehension
or misrepresentation of a doctrine designed to opposition. 2. To
pardon sinners, is a thing becoming the goodness and grace of God;
to do it by Christ, that which becometh them, and his hoUness and
righteousness also, Eph. i 6, 7; Rom. Ui 25. 3. The Lord Christ
was personally innocent; but " he who knew no sin was made sin
for us," 2 Cor. v. 21. And as the mediator and surety of the covenant,
he was to answer for the sins of them whom he undertook to save
from the wrath to come, by giving himself a ransom for them, and
making his soul an offering for their sin. 4. That nothing is due to
the justice of God for sin, — that is, that sin doth not in the justice of
God deserve punishment, — is a good, comfortable doctrine for men
that are resolved to continue in their sins whUst they Uve in this world.
The Scripture tells us that Christ paid what he took not; that all
our iniquities were caused to meet upon him; that he bare them in

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 435
his own body on the tree; that his soul was made an offering fot
sin, and thereby made reconcUiation or atonement for the sins of the
people. If these persons be otherwise minded, we cannot help it
Fourthly. It is added, that " This doctrine doth not only disad
vantage the true virtue and real intent of Christ's life and death,
but entirely deprives God of that praise which is owing to his greatest
love and goodness."
Ans. 1. I suppose that this is the first time that this doctrine feU
under this imputation ; nor could it possibly be liable unto this charge
from any who did either understand it or the grounds on which it
is commonly opposed. For there is no end of the life or death of
Christ which the Socinians themselves admit of, but it is also al
lowed and asserted in the doctrine now called in question. Do they
say, that he taught the truth, or revealed the whole mind and wUl
of God concerning his worship and our obedience? we say the same.
Do they say, that by his death he bare testimony unto and confirmed
the truth which he had taught? it is also owned by us. Do they
Bay, that in what he did and suffered he set us an example that we
should labour after conformity unto? it is what we acknowledge and
teach : only, we say that all these things belong principaUy to his
prophetical office. But we, moreover, affirm and believe, that as a
priest, or in tbe discharge of his sacerdotal office, he did, in his death
and sufferings, offer himself a sacrifice to God, to make atonement
for our sins, — which they deny; and that he died for us, or in our
stead, that we might go free: without the faith and acknowledgment
whereof no part of the gospel can be rightly understood. All the
ends, then, which they themselves assign of the life and death of
Christ are by us granted ; and the principal one, which gives life and
efficacy to the rest, is by them denied. Neither, — 2. Doth it faU
under any possible imagination, that the praise due unto God should
be eclipsed hereby. The? love and kindness of God towards us is in
the Scripture fixed principally and fundamentally on his " sending
of his only begotten Son to die for us." And, certainly, the greater
the work was that he had to do, the greater ought our acknowledg
ment of his love and kindness to be. But it is said, —
Fifthly, " That it represents the Son as more kind and compassion
ate than the Father; whereas if both be the same God, then either the
Father is as loving as the Son, or the Son as angry as the Father."
Ans. 1. The Scripture referreth the love of the Father unto two
heads: — (1.) The sending of his Son to die for us, John iii 16; Rom.
v. 8; I John iv. 9, 10. (2.) In choosing sinners unto a participa
tion of the fruits of his love, Eph. i. 3-6. The love of the Son is
fixed signally on his actual giving himself to die for us, Gal. U. 20 ;
Eph. V. 25; Rev. L 5. What balances these persons have got to

436 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST.
weigh these loves in, and to conclude which is the greatest or most
weighty, I know not 2. Although only the actual discharge of his
, office be directly assigned to the love of Christ, yet- bis condescension
in taking our nature upon him, — expressed by bis mind, Phil ii 5-8,
and the readiness of his will Ps. xL 8, — doth eminently comprise love
in it also. 3. The love of the Father in sending of the Son was an
act of his will; which being a natural and essential property of God,
it was so far the act of the Son also, as he is partaker of the same
nature, though eminently, and in respect of order, it was peculiarly
the act of the Father. 4. The anger of God against sin is an effect
of his essential righteousness and hoUness, which belong to him as
God ; which yet hinders not but that both Father, and Son, and Spirit,
acted love towards sinners. They say again, —
Sixthly, " It robs God of the gift of his Son for our redemption,
which the Scriptures attribute to the unmerited love he had for the
world, in affirming the Son purchased that redemption from the
Father, by the gift of himself to God as our complete satisfaction."
Ans. 1. It were endless to consider the improper and absurd ex
pressions which are made use of in these exceptions, as here; the last
words have no tolerable sense in them, according to any principles
whatever. 2. If the Son's purchasing redemption for us, procuring,
obtaining it, do rob God of the gift of his Son for our redemption,
the Holy Ghost must answer for it; for, having " obtained" for us, or
procured, or purchased, "eternal redemption," is the word used by him
self, Heb. ix. 1 2 ; and to deny that he hath laid down his life a " ran
som" for us, and hath " bought us with a price," is openly to deny
the gospel. 3. Ih a word, the great gift of God consisted in giving his
Son to obtain redemption for us. 4. Herein he " offered himseff unto
God," and " gave himself for us;" and if these persons are offended
herewithal, what are we, that we should withstand God ? They say, —
Seventhly, " Since Christ could not pay what was not his own, it
follows, that in the payment of his own the case still remains equally
grievous; since the debt is not hereby absolved or forgiven, but trans
ferred only; and, by consequence, we are no better provided for salva
tion than before, owing that now to the Son which was once owing
to the Father."
Ans. The looseness and dubiousness of the expressions here used
makes an appearance that there is something in them, when indeed
there is not There is an allusion in them to a debt and a payment,
which is the most improper expression that is used in this matter;
and the interpretation thereof is to be regulated by other proper
expressions of the same thing. But to keep to the allusion : — 1. Christ
paid his own, but not for himself, Dan. ix. 26. 2. Paying it for us,
the debt is discharged; and out actual discharge is to be given out

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 437
according to the ways and means, and upon the conditions, appointed
and constituted by the Father and Son. 3. When a debt is so trans
ferred as that one is accepted in the room and obliged to payment
in the stead of another, and that payment is made and accepted
accordingly, all law and reason require that the original debtor be
discharged. 4. What on this account we owe to the Son, is praise,
thankfulness, and obedience, and not the debt which he took upon
himself and discharged for us, when we were nonsolvent, by his love.
So that this matter is plain enough, and not to be involved by such
cloudy expressions and incoherent discourse, following the metaphor
of a debt. For if God be considered as the creditor, we all as debtors,
and being insolvent, Christ undertook, out of his love, to pay the debt
for us, and did so accordingly, which was accepted with God; it foUows
that 'we are to be discharged upon God's terms, and under a new
obligation unto his love who hath made this satisfaction for us: which
we shall eternally acknowledge. It is said, —
Eighthly, " It no way renders men beholden or in ihe least
obliged to God, since by their doctrine he would not have abated us,
nor did he Christ, the least farthing; so that ihe acknowledgments
are peculiarly the Son's: which destroys the whole current of Scrip
ture testimony for his good-will towards men. 0 the infamous
portraiture this doctrine draws of the infinite goodness! Is this
your retribution, 0 injurious satisfactionists?"
Ans. This is but a bold repetition of what, in other words, was
mentioned before over and over. Wherein the love of God in this
matter consisted, and what is the obligation on us unto thankfulness
and obedience, hath been before also declared; and we are not to
be moved in fundamental truths by vain exclamations of weak and
unstable men. It is said, —
Ninthly, " That God's justice is satisfied for sins past, present,
and to come, whereby God and Christ have lost both their power of
enjoining godliness and prerogative of punishing disobedience; for
what is once paid, is not revocable, and if punishment should arrest
any for their debts, it argues a breach on God or Christ's part, or
else that it hath not been sufficiently solved, and the penalty com
plete sustained by another."
Ans. The intention of this pretended consequence of our doctrine
is, that, upon a supposition of satisfaction made by Christ, there is no
solid foundation remaining for the prescription of faith, repentance,
and obedience, on the one hand; or of punishing them who refuse so
to obey, beUeve, or repent, on the other. The reason of this inference
insinuated seems to be this, — that sin being satisfied for, cannot be
called again to an account. For the former part of the pretended
consequence, — namely, that on this supposition there is no foundation

438 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST.
left for the prescription of godliness, — I cannot discern any thing in
theleast looking towards the confirmation of it in the words of the
objection laid down. But these things are quite otherwise; as is
manifest unto them that read and obey the gospel. For,— 1. Christ's
satisfaction for sins acquits not the creature of that dependence on
God, and duty which he owes to God, which (notwithstanding that)
God may justly, and doth prescribe unto him, suitable to his own
nature, holiness, and wiU. The whole of our regard unto God doth
not lie in an acquitment from sin. It is, moreover, required of us, as
a necessary and indispensable consequence of the relation wherein
we stand unto him, that we live to him and obey him, whether sin
be satisfied for or no. The manner and measure hereof are to be
regulated by his prescriptions, which are suited to his own Wisdom
and our condition; and they are now referred to the heads men
tioned, oi faith, repentance, and new obedience. 2. The satisfaction
.made for sin being not made by the sinner himself, there must of
necessity be a rule, order, and law-constitution, how the sinner may
come to be interested in it, and made partaker of it. For the conse
quent of the freedom of one by the suffering of another is not natural
or necessary, but must proceed and arise from a law-constitution,
compact, and agreement. Now, the way constituted and appointed
is that of faith, or believing, as explained in the Scripture. If men
believe not, they are no less Uable to the punishment due to their
sins than if no satisfaction at all were made for sinners. And whereas
it is added, " Forgetting that every one must appear before the judg
ment-seat of Christ, to receive according to the things done in the
body, yea, and every one must give an account of himself to God;"
closing all with this, " But many more are the gross absurdities and
blasphemies that are the genuine fruits of this so confidently-be
lieved doctrine of satisfaction :" I say it is, — 3. Certain that we must
all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, to receive according to
the things done in the body; and therefore, woe will be unto them at
the great day who are not able to plead the atonement made for
their sins by the blood of Christ, and an evidence of their interest
therein by their faith and obedience, or the things done and wrought
in them and by them whilst they were in the body here in this
world. And this it would better become these persons to betake
themselves unto the consideration of, than to exercise themselves
unto an unparalleled confidence in reproaching those with absurdities
and blasphemies who believe the Deity and satisfaction of Jesus
Christ, the Son of the living God, who died for us ; which is the ground
and bottom of all our expectation of a blessed life and immortality to
come. The removal of these objections against the truth, scattered of late

OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. 439
up and down in the hands of all sorts of men, may suffice for our
present purpose. If any amongst these men judge that they have
an abUity to manage the opposition against the truth as declared by
us, with such pleas, arguments, and exceptions, as may pretend an
interest in appearing reason, they shaU, God assisting, be attended
unto. With men given up to a spirit of railing or reviling, — though
it be no small honour to be reproached by them who reject with
scorn the eternal Deity of the Son of God, and the satisfactory atone
ment that he made for the sins of men, — no person of sobriety wUl
contend. And I shall farther only desire the reader to take notice,
that though these few sheets were written in a few hours, upon the de
sire and for the satisfaction of some private friends, ahd therefore
contain merely an expression of present thoughts, without the least
design or diversion of mind towards accuracy or ornament; yet the
author is so far confident that the truth, and nothing else, is proposed
and confirmed in them, that he fears not but that an opposition to
what is here declared wUl be removed, and the truth reinforced in
such a way and manner as may not be to its disadvantage.

AN APPENDIX.

The preceding discourse, as hath been declared, was written for the
use of ordinary Christians, or sueh as might be in danger to be
seduced, or any way entangled in their minds, by the late attempts
against the truths pleaded for: for those' to whom the dispensation
of the gospel is committed, are " debtors both to the Greeks and to
the Barbarians; both to the wise and to the unwise," Rom. i 14. It
was therefore thought meet to insist only on things necessary, and
such as their faith is immediately concerned in; and not to immix
therewithal any such arguments or considerations as might not, by
reason of the terms wherein they are expressed, be obvious to their
capacity and understanding. Unto plainness and perspicuity, brevity
was also required, by such as judged this work necessary. That de
signee hope, is answered, and now discharged in some useful measure.
But yet because many of our arguments on the head of the satisfac
tion of Christ depend upon the genuine signification and notion of
the words and terms wherein the doctrine of it is delivered, — which,
for the reasons before mentioned, could not conveniently be discussed
in the foregoing discourse, — I shall here, in some few instances, give
an account of what farther confirmation the truth might receive by
a due explanation of them. And I shaU mention here but few of
them, because a large dissertation concerning them all is intended1
in another way.
First. For the term of satisfaction itseff, it is granted that in this
matter it is not found in the Scripture, — that is, it is not so pn^Sig, or
syllabically, — but it is xara rb Tp&yfia avavrippqTag; the thing itself in
tended is asserted in it, beyond aU modest contradiction. Neither,
indeed, is there in the Hebrew language any word that doth ade
quately answer unto it; no, nor yet in the Greek. As it is used in
this cause, eyybq, which is properly " sponsio," or " fide-jussio," in
1 The "Vindicise Evangelicae" of Owen, in reply to Biddle, had appeared fourteen
years before the publication of this treatise. The probability is, therefore, that
our author alludes above to the copious and elaborate refutation of Socinian
errors in his " Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews."— Ed.

442 AN APPENDIX.
its actual discharge, maketh the hearest approach unto it: 'ixamirmft
is used to the same purpose. But there are words. and phrases, both
in the Old Testament and in the New, that are equipollent unto it.
and express the matter or thing intended by it: as in the Old are.
nis ]Vna [ps. xhx. 9], and IBS. This last word we render " satisfac-
tion," Numb. xxxv. 32, 33, where God denies that any compensation
sacred or civil, shall be received to free a murderer from the punish
ment due unto him ; which properly expresseth what we intend :
" Thou shalt admit of no satisfaction for the life of a murderer."
In the New Testament : Abrpai, dvrlXurpov, airoXbrpuatg, n/i^, IXaepog'
and the verbs, Xurptuv, dtroXurpovv, e^ayopd^tiv, iXdaxedSai, are of the
same importance, and some of them accommodated to express the
thing intended, beyond that which hath obtained in vulgar use. For
that which we intended hereby is, the voluntary obedience unto
death, and the passion or suffering, of our Lord Jesus Christ, God
and man, whereby and wherein he offered himself, through the
eternal Spirit, for a propitiatory sacrifice, that he might fulfil the
law, or answer all its universal postulata; and as our sponsor, un
dertaking our cause, when we were under the sentence of condem
nation, underwent the punishment due to us from the justice of
God, being transferred on him; whereby having made a perfect
and absolute propitiation or atonement for our sins, he procured
for us deliverance from death and the curse, and a right unto life
everlasting. Now, this is more properly expressed^by some of the
words before mentioned than by that of satisfaction; which yet,
nevertheless, as usually explained, is comprehensive, and no way un-
suited to the matter intended by it.
It general, men by this word understand either " reparationem
offenses," or "solutionem debiti," — either "reparation made for offence
given unto any," or " the payment of a debt." " Debitum" is either
" criminale" or " pecuniarium;" that is, either the obnoxiousness of
a man to punishment for crimes or the guilt of them, in answer to
that justice and law which he is necessarily liable and subject unto ;
or unto a payment or compensation by and of money, or what is
valued by it; — which last consideration, neither in itself nor in any
reasonings from an analogy unto it, can in this matter have any
proper place. Satisfaction is the effect of the doing or suffering what
is required for the answering of his charge against faults or sins, who
hath right, authority, and power to require, exact, and inflict punish
ment for them. Some of the schoolmen define it by " Voluntaria
redditio asquivalentis indebiti;" of which more elsewhere. The true
meaning of, " to satisfy, or make satisfaction," is " tantum facere aut
pati, quantum satis sit juste irato ad vindictam." This satisfaction is
impleaded as inconsistent with free remission of sins, — how causelessly

AN APPENDIX. 443
we have seen. It is so far from it, that it is necessary to make way
for it, in case of a righteous law transgressed, and the pubUc order of
the universal Governor and government of aU disturbed. And this
God directs unto, Lev. iv. 31, " The priest shall make an atonement
for him, and it shall be forgiven him." This atonement was a legal
satisfaction, and it is by God himself premised to remission or pardon.
And Paul prays Philemon to forgive Onesimus, though he took upon
himself to make satisfaction for all the wrong or damage that he had
sustained, Epist. verses 18, 19. And when God was displeased with
the friends of Job, he prescribes a way to them, or what they shall
do, and what they shall get done for them, that they might be ac
cepted and pardoned, Job xlu. 7, 8, " The Lord said unto Eliphaz,
My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: there
fore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to
my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering ; and my
servant Job shall pray for you : for him will I accept : lest I deal witb
you after your foUy." He plainly enjoineth an atonement, that he
might freely pardon them. And both these, — namely, satisfaction
and pardon, with their order and consistency, — were solemnly repre
sented by the great institution of the sacrifice of the scape-goat For
after all the sins of the people were put upon him, or the punishment
of them transferred unto him in a type and representation, with
" Quod in ejus caput sit," the formal reason of aU sacrifices propiti
atory, he was sent away with them; denoting the oblation or forgive
ness of sin, after a translation made of its punishment, Lev. xvi
21, 22. And whereas it is not expressly said that that goat suffered,
or was slain, but was either <NW. , " hircus," aitoiroftiraTos, " a goat sent
away," or was sent to a rock called Azazel, in the wUderness, as
Vatablus1 and Oleaster,2 with some others, think (which is not probable,
seeing, though it might then be done whilst the people were in the
wilderness of Sinai, yet could not, by reason of its distance, when the
people were settled in Canaan, be annually observed), it was from
the poverty of the types, whereof no one could fuUy represent that
grace which it had particular respect unto. What, therefore, was
wanting in that goat was supplied in the other, which was slain as a
sin-offering, verses 15, 16.
Neither doth it follow,, that, on the supposition of the satisfaction
pleaded for, the freedom, pardon, or acquitment of the person origi
nally guUty and liable to punishment must immediately and " ipso
1 A celebrated Hebrew scholar. He was born in Picardy, and died 1547. His
Notes on the Old Testament Scriptures, taken by his scholars from his obser
vations, and arranged by Robert Stephens, were published 1557.
' A Portuguese Dominican and able scholar. He died in 1563, and left behind
bim Commentaries on the Pentateuch. — En.

4+4 AN APPENDIX.
facto" ensue. It is not of the nature of every solution or satisfaction,
that deliverance must " ipso facto" follow. And the reason of it is,
because this satisfaction, by a succedaneous substitution of one to
undergo punishment for another, nnist be founded iu a voluntary
compact and agreement. For there is required unto it a relaxation
of the law, though not as unto the punishment to be inflicted, yet as
unto the person to be punished. And it is otherwise in personal
guilt than in pecuniary debts. In these, the debt itself is solely in
tended, the person only obliged 'with reference thereunto. In the
other, the person is firstly and principally under the obligation. And
therefore, when a pecuniary debt is paid; by whomsoever it be paid,
the obligation of the person himself unto payment ceaseth " ipso
facto." But in things criminal, the guilty person himself being firstly,
immediately, and intentionally under' the obligation unto punishment,
when there is introduced by compact a vicarious solution, in the sub
stitution of another to suffer, though he suffer the same absolutely
which those should have done for whom he suffers, yet, because of
the' acceptation of his person to suffer, which might have been refused,
and could not be admitted without some relaxation of the law, de
liverance of the guilty persons cannot ensue " ipso facto," but by the
intervention of the terms fixed on in the covenant or agreement for
an admittance of the substitution.
It appears, from what hath been spoken, that, in this matter of
satisfaction, God is not considered as a creditor, and sin as a debt;
and the law as an obligation to the payment of that debt, and the
Lord Christ as paying it; — though these notions may have been used
by some for the iUustration of the whole matter, and that not with
out countenance from sundry expressions in the Scripture to the same
purpose. But God is considered as the infinitely holy and righteous
author of the law, and supreme governor of all mankind, according
to the tenor and sanction of it. Man is considered as a sinner, a
transgressor of that law, and thereby obnoxious and liable to the
punishment constituted in it and by ii, — answerably unto the justice
and holiness of its author. The substitution of Christ was merely
voluntary on the part of God, and of himself, undertaking to be a
sponsor, to answer for the sins of men by undergoing the punishment
due unto them. To this end there was a relaxation of the law as to
the persons that were to suffer, though not as to what was to be suf
fered Without the former, the substitution mentioned could not
have been admitted; and on supposition of the latter, the suffer
ing of Christ could not have had the nature of punishment, properly
so called: for punishment relates to the justice and righteousnessin
government of him that exacts it and inflicts it • and this the justice
of God doth not but by the law. Nor could the law be any Way

AN APPENDIX. 445
satisfied or fulfilled by the suffering of Christ, if, antecedently there
unto, its obligation, or power of obliging unto the penalty constituted
in its sanction unto sin, was relaxed, dissolved, or dispensed withal.
Nor was it agreeable to justice, nor would the nature of the things
themselves admit of it, that another punishment should be inflicted
on Christ than what we had deserved; nor could our sin be the
impulsive cause of his death; nor could we have had any benefit
thereby. And this may suffice to" be added unto what was spoken
before as to the nature of satisfaction, so far as the brevity of the
discourse whereunto we are confined will bear, or the use whereunto
it is designed doth require.
Secondly. The nature of the doctrine contended for being declared
and cleared, we may, in one or two instances, manifest how evidently
it is revealed, and how fully it may be confirmed or vindicated. It
is, then, in the Scripture declared, that " Christ died for us," — that
he "died for our sins;" and that we are thereby delivered. This is
the foundation of Christian religion as such. Without the faith and
acknowledgment of it, we are not Christians. Neither is it, in these
general terms, at all denied by the Socinians. It remains, therefore,
that we consider,— 1. How this is revealed and affirmed in the
Scripture ; and, 2. What is the true meaning of the expressions and
propositions wherein it is revealed and affirmed; — for in them, as
in sundry others, we affirm that the satisfaction pleaded for is con-
tf lined.
' 1. Christ is said to die, to give himself, to be delivered, bnfip n/iv>,
etc., for us, for his sheep, for the life of the world, for sinners, John
vi. 5], x. 15; Rom. v. 6; 2 Cor. v. 14, 15; Gal. U. 20; Heb. ii. 9.
Moreover, he is said to die bit\p a/iupriSni, for sins, 1 Cor. xv. 3 ; Gal.
i. 4. The end whereof, everywhere expressed in the gospel, is, that
we might he freed, delivered, and saved. These things, as was said,
are agreed unto and acknowledged.
2. The meaning and importance, we say, of these expressions is,
that Christ died in our room, place, or stead, undergoing the death
or punishment which we should have undergone in the way and
manner before declared. And this is the satisfaction we plead for.
It remains, therefore, that from the Scripture, the nature of the things
treated of, the proper signification and constant use of the expressions
mentioned, the exemplification of them in the customs and usages of
the nations of the world, we do evince and manifest that what we
have laid down is the true and proper sense of the words wherein
this revelation of Christ's dying for us is expressed; so that they who
deny Christ to have died for us in this sense do indeed deny tbat he
properly died for us at all,— whatever benefits they grant that by his
death we may obtain.

446 . AN APPENDIX
First We may consider the use of this expression in the Scripture
either indefinitely or in particular instances.
Only we must take this along with us, that dying for sms and
transgressions, being added unto dying for sinners or persons, maketh
the substitution of one in the room and stead of another more evi
dent than when the dying of one for another only is mentioned.
For whereas all predicates are regulated by their subjects, and it is
ridiculous to say that one dieth in the stead of sins, the meaning can
be no other but the bearing or answering of the sins of the sinner in
whose stead any one dieth. And this is, in the Scripture, declared to
be the sense of that expression, as we shaU see afterward. Let us,
therefore, consider some instances : —
John xi. 50, The words of Caiaphas'* counsel are, 2v/Ltpepu iiftTv,
ha iJg avQpuitog amiduri b-n-'ep rou XaoD, xal firi oXov rb ehog diroXrirai' — " It
is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that
the whole nation perish not:" which is expressed again, chap. xvUi. 14,
airoXisOai \m\p tov XaaZ, "perish for the people." Caiaphas feared
that if Christ were spared, the people would be destroyed by the
Romans. The way to free them, he thought, was by the destruction
of Christ; him, therefore, he devoted to death, in lieu of the people.
As he, — " Unum pro multis dabitur caput;" —
" One head shall be given for many."
Not unlike the speech of Otho the emperor in Xiphilin,1 when he
slew himself to preserve his army; for when they would have per
suaded him to renew the war after the defeat of some of his forces,
and offered to lay down their lives to secure him, he replied, that he
would not, adding this reason, TloXb y&p wov xal xpeTrrov, xal Sixaiorepot
itTiv, ha inrcp irdtruv % iroXXobc birip hbg uvoXssOai' — " It is far better,
and more just, that one should perish or die for all, than that many
should perish for one;" that is, one in the stead of many, that they
may go free; or as1 another speaks, —
'Ejo» trfi tritrut fuxt vTifioiitxi fan"). — Eurip. Frag. Erech.
" Let one be given up to die in the stead of all."
John xui. 37, Tfa -fyvxji* /tou birep sou Sijcw. They are the words of
St Peter unto Christ, "I will lay down my life for thee;" — "To free
thee, I will expose my own head to danger, my life to death, — that
thou mayest live, and I die." It is plain that he intended the same
thing with the celebrated &vrtyv_)_oi of old, who exposed their own
lives (-^vx,to airl -d/ux«) ror one another. Such were Damon and
1 A monk of Constantinople, who wrote an epitome of Dion Cassius a d
1071-1078.— Ed. '

AN APPENDIX. 447
Pythias, Orestes and Pylades, Nisus and Euryalus. Whence is that
saying of Seneca, " Succurram perituro, sed ut ipse non peream;
nisi si futurus ero magni hominis, aut magna? rei merces;" — "I will
relieve or succour one that is ready to perish ; yet so as that I perish
not myself, — unless thereby I be taken in lieu of some great man, or
great matter ;" — " For a great man, a man of great worth and useful
ness, I could perish or die in his stead, that he might Uve and go
free." We have a great example, also, of the importance of this expres
sion in, these .words of David concerning Absalom, 2 Sam. xviii 33,
TBnn "3S W tiTD,—" Who will grant me to die, I for thee," or in
thy stead, " my son Absalom?" [Literal rendering of the Hebrew.]
It was never doubted but that David wished that he had died in the
stead of his son, and to have undergone the death which he did, to
have preserved him aUve. As to the same purpose, though in another
sense, Mezentius in Virgil expresses himself, when his son Lausus, in
terposing between him and danger in battle, was slain by_]neas: —
" Tantane me tenuit vivendi, nate, voluptas,
Ut pro me hostili paterer succedere d extras
Quem genui ? tuane hsec genitor per vulnera servor,
Morte tua vivens !" — _!n. X. 846.
" Hast thou, O son, faUen under the enemies' hand in my stead? am
I saved by thy wounds? do I live by thy death?"
And the word nnri^ used by David, doth signify, when appUed unto
persons, either a succession or a substitution ; still the coming of one
into the place and room of another. When one succeeded to another
in government, it is expressed by that word, 2 Sam. x. 1; 1 Kings
i 35, xix. 16. In other cases it denotes a substitution. So Jehu
tells his guard, that if any one of them let any of Baal's priests escape,
IK'S: nnn \&B3_ 2 Kings x. 24, — his Ufe should go in the stead of the
life that he had suffered to escape.
And this answereth unto avrl in the Greek; which is also used in
this matter, and ever denotes either equality, contrariety, or substi
tution. The two former senses can here have no place; the latter
alone hath. So it is said, that Archelaus reigned tori 'HpiiSou rou ita-
rpbg abrou, _att ii. 22, — " in the room " or stead " of his father Herod."
So btpAaXftbs Avrl bfiaK/iov, bhobg avrl bSovrog, Matt. v. 38, is " an eye
for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." And this word also is used in
expressing the death of Christ for us. He came Sovvai rw ¦^"'X'i'
airoD Xbrpoii auri voXXuv, Matt. xx. 28, — " to give his life a ransom for
many;" that is, in their stead to die. So the words are used again,
Mark x. 45. And both these notes of a succedaneous substitution
are joined together, 1 Tim. ii 6, 'O Sous eaurbv avriXurpov biiip icdvrm.
And this the Greeks call «-« -ipvy^g vrplaeOai, — to buy any thing, to

448 AN APPENDIX
purchase or procure any thing, with the price of one's life. So Tig-
ranes in Xenophon, when Cyrus asked him what he would give or
do for the Uberty of his wife, whom he had taken prisoner, answered,
Kosv ri\g -4/u%?f irpialfirjv uere /i^irore Xarpttjeai rabrtiv — " I will purchase
her Uberty with my life," or "the price of my souL" Whereon the
woman being freed, affirmed afterward, that she considered none in
the company, but him who said, ug r5jj 4u%?s a\ irpiuiro &<sn ny /is
ScuXfbtiv, "that he would purchase my Uberty with his own Ufe,"
[Cyrop. lib. iii]
And these things are added on the occasion of the instances men
tioned in the Scripture ; whence it appears, that this expression of
" dying for another" hath no other sense or meaning, but only dying
instead of another, undergoing the death that he should undergo, that
he might go free. And in this matter of Christ's dying for us, add
that he so died for us as that he also died for our sins; that is, either
to bear their punishment or to expiate their guilt (for other sense
the words cannot admit) ; and he that pretends to give any other
sense of them than that contended for, which implies the whole of
what lies in the doctrine of satisfaction, " erit mihi magnus Apollo,"
even he who was the author of all ambiguous oracles of old.
And this is the common sense of " mori pro alio," and " pati pro
aUo," or "pro alio discrimen capitis subire;" a, substitution is stiU
denoted by that expression: which sufficeth us in this whole cause,
for we know both into whose room he came, and what they were to
suffer. Thus Entellus, kUUng and sacrificing an ox to Eryx in the
stead of Dares, whom he was ready to have slain, when he was taken
from him, expresseth himself, —
" Hanc tibi, Eryx, mel-iorem animam pro morte Daretis
Persolvo." — iEn. v. 483.
He offered the ox, a better sacrifice, in the stead of Dares, taken
from him. So, —
" Fratrem Pollux alterna morte redemit." — ffln. vi. 121.
And they speak so not only with respect unto death, but wherever
any thing of durance or suffering is intended. So the angry master
in the comedian: —
" Verberibus csesum te in pistrinum, Dave, dedam usque ad necem;
Ea lege atque omine, ut, si te inde exemerim, ego pro te molam." 
Ter. And., i. 2, 28.
He threatened his servant, to cast him into prison, to be macerated
to death with labour; and that with this engagement, that if he ever
let him out he would grind for him; — that is, in his stead. Where-

AN APPENDIX. 449
fore, without offering violence to the common means of understand
ing things amongst men, another sense cannot be affixed to these
words. The nature of the thing itseff wUl admit of no other exposition
than that given unto it; and it hath been manifoldly exemplified
among the nations of the world. For suppose a man guilty of any
crime, and on the account thereof to be exposed unto danger from
God or man, in a way of justice, wrath, or vengeance, and when he
is ready to be given up unto suffering according unto his demerit,
another should tender himself to die for him, that he might be freed ;
let an appeal be made to the common reason and understandings of
all men, whether the intention of this his dying for another be not,
that he substitutes himself in his stead, to undergo what he should
have done, however the translation of punishment from one to another
may be brought about and asserted; for at present we treat not of
the right, but of the fact, or the thing itself. And to deny this to be
the case as to the sufferings of Christ, is, as far as I can understand,
to subvert the whole gospel.
Moreover, as was said, this hath been variously exemplified among
the nations of the world ; whose actings in such cases, because they
excellently shadow out the general notion of the death of Christ for
others, for sinners, and are appealed unto directly by the apostle
to this purpose, Rom. v. 7, 8, I shaU in a few instances reflect
upon. Not to insist on the voluntary surrogations of private persons, one
into the room of another, mutually to undergo dangers and death for
one another, as before mentioned, I shall only remember some pubUc
transactions, in reference unto communities, in nations, cities, or
armies. Nothing is more celebrated amongst the ancients than this,
that when they supposed themselves in danger, from the anger and
displeasure of their gods, by reason of any guUt or crimes among
them, some one person should either devote himself or be devoted by
the people, to die for them; and therein to be made, as it' were, an
expiatory sacrifice. For where sin is the cause, and God is the object
respected, the making of satisfaction by undergoing punishment, and
expiating of sin by a propitiatory sacrifice, are but various expressions
of the same thing. Now, those who so devoted themselves, as was
said, to die in the stead of others, or to expiate their sins, and turn
away the anger of God they feared, by their death, designed two
things in what they did. First, That the evils which were impend
ent on the people, and feared, might faff on themselves, so that the
people might go free. Secondly, That all good thmgs which them
selves desired, might be conferred on the people. Which things have
a notable shadow in them of the great expiatory sacrifice, concerning
vol. n. 29

450 AN APPENDIX
which we treat, and expound the expressions wherein it is declared.
The instance of the DecU is known; of whom the poet, —
" Plebeiae Deciorum animse, plebeia fuerunt
Nomina; pro totis legionibus Hi tamen, et pro
Omnibus auxiliis, atque omni plebe Latina,
Sufficiant Diis infernis."
The two DecU, father and son, in imminent dangers of the people,
devoted themselves, at several times, unto death and destruction.
And saith he, " Sufficiunt Dus infernis," — they satisfied for the whole
people; adding the reason whence so it might be: —
• " Pluris enim Decii quam qui servantur ab illis." — Juv., Sat. vii. 254-8.
They were more to be valued than all that were saved by them.
And the great historian doth excellently describe both the actions
and expectations of the one and the other in what they did. The
father, when the Roman army, commanded by himself and Titus
Manlius, was near a total ruin by the Latins, called for the public
priest, and caused him, with the usual solemn ceremonies, to devote
him to death for the deUverance and safety of the army; after which,
making his requests to his gods, (" dU quorum est potestas nostrorum
hostiumque,") " the gods that had power over them and their adver
saries," as he supposed, he cast himseff into death by the swords of
the enemy. " Conspectus ab utraque acie aliquanto augustior hu-
mano visu, sicut ccelo missus, piaculum omnis deorum ira, qui pestem
ab suis aversam in hostes ferret ;" — " He was looked on by both
armies as one more august than a man, as one sent from heaven, to
be a piacular sacrifice, to appease the anger of the gods, and to trans
fer destruction from their own army to the enemies," Liv., Hist. vui. 9.
His son, in like manner, in a great and dangerous battle against the
Gauls and Samnites, wherein he commanded in chief, devoting him
self, as his father had done, added unto the former solemn depreca
tions : — " Prse se agere sese formidinem ac fugam, csedemque ac cru-
orem, ccelestium, inferorum iras," Ub. x. 28 ; — " That he carried away
before him, from those for whom he devoted himself, ' fear and flight,
slaughter and blood, the anger of the celestial and infernal gods.'"
And as they did, in this devoting of themselves, design " averruncare
malum, deum iras, lustrare populum, aut exercitum, piaculum fieri,"
or mpi-ipri[j,a, avditi/ia, aieoxddapiha, — " expiare crimina, scelus, reatum,"
or to remove all evil from others, by taking it on themselves in their
stead.; so also they thought they might, and intended in what they
did, to covenant and contract for the good things they desired. So
did these Decii; and so is Menceceus reported to have done, when he
devoted himself for the city of Thebes, in danger to be destroyed by

AN APPENDIX. 451
the Argives. So Papinius [Statius] introduceth him treating [with]
his gods: —
" Annorum superi, tuque 6 qui funere tanto
Indulges mihi, Phoebe, mori, date gaudia Thebis,
Quae pepigi, et toto quae sanguine prodigus emi."— [Theb. x. 757.]
He reckoned that he had not only repelled all death and. danger
from Thebes, by his own, but that he had' purchased joy, in peace
and liberty, for the people.
And where there was none in public calamities that did voluntarily
devote themselves, the people were wont to take some obnoxious
person, to make him execrable, and to lay on him, according to their
superstition, all the wrath of their gods, and so give him up to de
struction. Such the apostle alludes unto, Rom. ix. 3; 1 Cor. iv. 9, 13. .
So the Massilians were wont to expiate their city by taking a person
devoted, imprecating on his head all the evU that the city was ob
noxious unto, casting him into the sea with these words, TUpi-ipriua
Ji/iSiv yivov — " Be thou our expiatory sacrifice." To which purpose
were the solemn words that many used in their expiatory sacrifices,
as Herodotus [lib. ii 39] testifieth of the Egyptians, bringing their
offerings. Saith he, Karap'sovrai hi, rddi Xiyovrtg, rpdi "XitpaXfj ait' ii n
fiiXXoi j) Stpiei rotsi %bov<u, ij Alybntry rf\ avvanderi xaxbv yivisHat ig xitpaXrit
rabrtjv rpairiedar — " They laid these imprecations on their heads, that
if any evU were happening towards the sacrificer, or all Egypt, let it
be all turned and laid on this devoted head."
And the persons whom they thus dealt withal, and made execrate,
were commonly of the vilest of the people, or such as had rendered
themselves detestable by their own crimes; whence was the complaint
of the mother of Menceceus upon her son's devoting himself: —
" Lustralemne feris, ego te puer inclyte Thebis,
Devotumque caput, vilis seu mater alebam?" —
[Statius, Theb. x. 788, 789.]
I have recounted these instances to evince the common intention,
sense, and understanding of that expression, of one dying for another,
and to manifest by examples what is the sense of mankind about
any one's being devoted and substituted in the room of others, to de
Uver them from death and danger; the consideration whereof, added
to the constant use of the words mentioned in the Scripture, is suf
ficient to found and confirm this conclusion: —
"That whereas it is frequently affirmed in the Scripture, that ' Christ
died for us, and for our sins,' etc., to deny that he died and suffered
in our stead, undergoing the death whereunto we were obnoxious,
and the punishment due to our sins, is,— if we respect in what we
say or believe the constant use of those words in the Scripture,

452 AN APPENDIX.
the nature of the thing itself concerning which they are used, the
uncontrolled use of that expression in aU sorts of writers in express
ing the same thing, with the instances and examples of its meaning
and intention among the nations of the world, — to deny that he died
for us at- all."
Neither wiU his dying for our good or advantage only, in what
way or sense soever, answer or make good or true the assertion of
his dying for us and our sins. And this is evident in the death of the
apostles and martyrs. They all died for our good ; our advantage and
benefit was one end of their sufferings, in the wiU and appointment
of God : and yet it cannot be said that they died for us, or our
sins. ' And if Christ died only for our good, though in a more effectual
manner than they did, yetthis altereth not the kind of his dying for
us; nor can he thence be said, properly, according to the only due
sense of that expression, so to do.
I shall, jn this brief and hasty discourse, add only one consideration
more about the death of Christ, to confirm the truth pleaded for;
and that is, that he is said, in dying for sinners, " to bear their sins."
Isa. liii. 11, " He shall bear their iniquities;" verse 12, " He bare the
sin of many;" explained, verse 5, " He was wounded for our trans
gressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our
peace was upon him." 1 Pet. u. 24, " Who his own self bare our sins
in his own body on the tree," etc. .
This expression is purely sacred. It occurreth not directly in other
authors, though the sense of it in other words do frequently. They
call it " luere peccata; " that is, " deUctorum supplicium ferre," — " to
bear the punishment of sins." The meaning, therefore, of this phrase
of speech is to be taken from the Scripture alone, and principally
from the Old Testament, where it is originally used; and from whence
it is transferred into the New Testament, in the same sense, and ,no
other. Let us consider some of the places: —
Isa. liii. 11, &p? sin Drtiij?. The same word, ^0, is used verse 4,
D?3D W3X3D1, — « And our griefs, he hath borne them." The word
signifies, properly, to bear a weight or a burden, as a man bears it on
his shoulders, — " bajulo, porto." And it is never used with respect
unto sin, but openly and plamly it signifies the undergoing of the
punishment due unto it. So it occurs directly to our purpose, Lam.
v. 7, «??? *?Dty »mK U* won 1JTQN_« Our fathers have sinned,
and are not; and we have borne their iniquities;" the punishment
due to their sins. And why a new sense should be forged for these
words when they are spoken concerning Christ, who can give a just
reason? Again; KfeO is used to the same purpose, "BO Cayxtpn Nin^ isa. _____

AN APPENDIX 453
12, " And he bare the sin of many." x&l is often used with re
spect unto sin; sometimes with reference unto God's actings about
it, and sometimes with reference unto men's concerns in it. In the
first way, or when it denotes an act of God, it signifies to lift up, to
take away or pardon sin; and leaves the word Ity, wherewith it is
joined under its first signification, of iniquity, or the guUt of sin, with
respect unto punishment ensuing as its consequent ; for God pardon
ing the guilt of sin, the removal of the punishment doth necessarily
ensue, guilt containing an obUgation unto punishment. In the latter
way, as it respects men or sinners, it constantly denotes the bearing
of the punishment of sin, and gives that sense unto ity, with respect
unto the guUt of sin as its cause. And hence ariseth the ambiguity
of these words of Cain, Gen. iv. 13, #SD ^J| Mia. If ago denotes
an act of God, if the words be spoken with reference, in the first
place, to any acting of his towards Cain, Jil? retains the sense of ini
quity, and the words are rightly rendered, " My sin is greater than
to be forgiven." If it respect Cain himself firstly, til? assumes the
signification of punishment, and the words are to be rendered, " My
punishment is greater than I can bear," or "is to be borne by
me." This, I say, is the constant sense of this expression, nor can any
instance to the contrary be produced. Some may be mentioned in
the confirmation of it. Numb. xiv. 33, " Your children shaU wander
in the wUderness forty years," MVWrriS Wipw " and shall bear your
whoredoms." Verse 34, natf D'yfiK MVjMjrriK 'istpn _ » Ye shall bear
your iniquities forty years;" that is, the punishment due to your
whoredoms and iniquities, according to God's providential dealings
with them at that time. Lev. xix. 8, " He that eateth it *&*. big
shall bear his iniquity." How? »W Bton "CH?? — " That soul shall
be cut off." To be cut off for sin, by the punishment of it, and
for its guilt, is to bear iniquity. So chap. xx. 16-18, for a man to
bear his iniquity, and to be killed, slain, or put to death for it, are
the same.
Ezek. xvui 20, as'n fta afcr* [3 mon ton nstj'nn Bte3n_« The soul
that sinneth, it shaU die. The son shall not bear the sin of the
father." To bear sin, and to die for sin, are the same. More in
stances might be added, aU uniformly speaking the same sense of
the words.
And as this sense is sufficiently, indeed invincibly, established by
the invariable use of that expression in the Scripture so the manner
whereby it is affirmed that the Lord Christ bare our iniquities, sets
it absolutely free from aU danger by opposition. For he bare our
iniquities when u!b |il? DS ia jpaan njrn , — " the Lord made to meet
on him, or laid on him. the iniquity of us aU." Isa. liii 6 ; which words

454 AN APPENDIX.
the LXX. render, Kal Kbpiog -rapiduxiv abrbv raTg afiapriaig rifiitaV —
" The Lord gave him up, or delivered him unto our sins;" that is, to
be punished for them, for other sense the words can have none. " He
made him sin for us," 2 Cor. v. 21. So " he bare our sins," Isa liii. 1 2.
How? "In his own body on the tree," 1 Pet. ii. 24; that when he
was, and in his being. stricken, smitten, afflicted, wounded, bruised,
slain, so was the chastisement of our peace upon him.
Wherefore, to deny that the Lord Christ, in his death and suffer
ing for us, underwent the punishment due to our sins, what we had
deserved, that we might be deUvered, as it everts the great founda
tion of the gospel, so, by an open perverting of the plain words of the
Scripture, because not suited in their sense and importance to the
vain' imaginations of men, it gives no smaU countenance to infidelity
and atheism.

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